Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $21.58.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MSDL shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Raymond James lowered Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. Finally, UBS Group lowered Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $23.50 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, July 18th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 1st quarter worth about $32,973,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter worth about $646,000. Cliffwater LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the first quarter worth approximately $47,035,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the first quarter valued at approximately $223,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter valued at approximately $223,000.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Performance

Shares of MSDL opened at $20.59 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.84 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.64. The company’s fifty day moving average is $22.18 and its 200-day moving average is $22.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 12 month low of $19.05 and a 12 month high of $24.18.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.63. The company had revenue of $99.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $98.65 million. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a return on equity of 12.87% and a net margin of 62.34%. Equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.71%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s payout ratio is 64.52%.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Company Profile

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund is a business development company. It is a non-diversified, externally managed specialty finance company focused on lending to middle-market companies. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund is based in NEW YORK.