Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Lowers Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Price Target to $20.00

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) had its price target cut by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $21.00 to $20.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on MSDL. Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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 Monday, March 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.10.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Performance

NYSE MSDL opened at $17.80 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 1.56. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $20.47. The company has a market cap of $1.58 billion, a PE ratio of 6.98 and a beta of 0.44. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 1-year low of $17.68 and a 1-year high of $24.18.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by ($0.06). Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a net margin of 54.89% and a return on equity of 12.69%. The firm had revenue of $103.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $107.02 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.24%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.30%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 3,509.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 28,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $571,000 after purchasing an additional 28,072 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the fourth quarter valued at about $511,000. Shikiar Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the fourth quarter worth about $1,780,000. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the third quarter valued at about $1,555,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $295,000.

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.