Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Short Interest Down 21.0% in September

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 47,500 shares, a decrease of 21.0% from the August 31st total of 60,100 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 187,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.3 days. Approximately 0.1% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MSDL. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $223,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the first quarter worth $223,000. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 64.8% in the 2nd quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 30,713 shares of the company’s stock valued at $671,000 after acquiring an additional 12,076 shares during the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 1st quarter worth $646,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 16.3% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,780,243 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,898,000 after acquiring an additional 250,167 shares during the period.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Performance

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending stock traded up $0.14 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $20.02. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 131,700 shares, compared to its average volume of 136,985. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $20.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.97. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 1-year low of $19.05 and a 1-year high of $24.18. The company has a market cap of $1.79 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.63. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a return on equity of 12.57% and a net margin of 60.60%. The business had revenue of $104.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.60 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a — dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a dividend yield of 10.1%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.52%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on MSDL. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 29th. UBS Group cut Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $23.50 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.42.

About Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

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.