Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the six brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $21.42.

Several equities analysts recently commented on MSDL shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research note on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group cut shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $23.50 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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 research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 29th.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Performance

NYSE MSDL opened at $20.17 on Friday. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 52-week low of $19.05 and a 52-week high of $24.18. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The company has a market capitalization of $1.80 billion and a PE ratio of 6.51.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 the consensus estimate 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, research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Announces Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 1st quarter valued at about $223,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 1st quarter valued at about $223,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 1st quarter valued at about $646,000. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 64.8% during 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 period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp bought a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,973,000.

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.