Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the six brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $21.42.

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

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE MSDL opened at $20.09 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.80 billion and a PE ratio of 6.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63. The business had revenue of $104.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.60 million. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a net margin of 60.60% and a return on equity of 12.57%. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. This represents a yield of 10.1%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSDL. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 1st quarter worth approximately $223,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 1st quarter valued at $223,000. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $671,000 after buying an additional 12,076 shares during the period. Everpar Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 3rd quarter valued at $377,000. Finally, Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 1st quarter valued at $646,000.

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.