Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Shares Down 0.4% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) fell 0.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $19.83 and last traded at $19.87. 679,966 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 130% from the average session volume of 295,170 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.95.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSDL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $23.50 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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 report on Friday, July 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced 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 report on Monday, July 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley Direct Lending currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.42.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Trading Down 0.3 %

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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $19.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.05. The stock has a market cap of $1.78 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.70.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.60 million. Equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a — dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 10.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.34%.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of MSDL. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 16.3% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,780,243 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,898,000 after purchasing an additional 250,167 shares during the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in 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 worth $671,000 after buying an additional 12,076 shares in the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $646,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $223,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 1st quarter worth $223,000.

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.