Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Receives $21.92 Average Target Price from Analysts

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the six research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $21.92.

MSDL has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $20.50 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. Raymond James cut Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MSDL. Van ECK Associates Corp bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 1st quarter valued at $32,973,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 1st quarter valued at $646,000. Cliffwater LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 1st quarter valued at $47,035,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 1st quarter valued at $223,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 1st quarter worth $223,000.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Down 7.2 %

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending stock opened at $21.85 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market cap of $1.95 billion and a P/E ratio of 7.05. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $22.94. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a twelve month low of $19.05 and a twelve month high of $24.18.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.63. The company had revenue of $99.10 million for 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.52 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.15%. 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.