Caprock Group LLC Acquires New Shares in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL)

Caprock Group LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 12,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $245,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position 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 buying an additional 250,167 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 377.5% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 123,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,449,000 after acquiring an additional 97,893 shares during the last quarter. ASB Consultores LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,589,000. Fountainhead AM LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 3rd quarter valued at about $515,000. Finally, Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the third quarter worth about $510,000.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE MSDL opened at $20.43 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.81 billion and a P/E ratio of 8.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 1.56. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a one year low of $19.05 and a one year high of $24.18. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.10.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a — dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a yield of 10.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s payout ratio is presently 78.43%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MSDL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a report on Friday, September 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley Direct Lending currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.42.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending 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.