Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Receives $21.42 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the six analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $21.42.

MSDL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a report on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group downgraded Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $23.50 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 29th.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Price Performance

NYSE MSDL opened at $20.09 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $20.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.80 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.48. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 52-week low of $19.05 and a 52-week high of $24.18.

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

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a — dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 4th. This represents a yield of 10.1%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.52%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSDL. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter worth $223,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter worth $223,000. Everpar Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the third quarter worth $377,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter worth $646,000. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 64.8% in the second quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 30,713 shares of the company’s stock worth $671,000 after acquiring an additional 12,076 shares during the last quarter.

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.