Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (NYSE:MSDL) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (NYSE:MSDL) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund from $20.00 to $18.50 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 10th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund from $19.50 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $17.00 price objective on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $18.50 target price on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.92.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund Stock Down 0.0%

MSDL stock opened at $16.72 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.13 and a beta of 0.26. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has a fifty-two week low of $15.70 and a fifty-two week high of $21.75. The business has a 50-day moving average of $16.96 and a 200-day moving average of $18.28.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (NYSE:MSDL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.01. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund had a return on equity of 10.21% and a net margin of 35.92%.The business had revenue of $99.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $98.55 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 121.21%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund

In other news, Director Joan Binstock acquired 9,030 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $16.64 per share, for a total transaction of $150,259.20. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 50,042 shares in the company, valued at $832,698.88. The trade was a 22.02% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 213,619 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,435,000 after purchasing an additional 2,578 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund by 122.8% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 341,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,488,000 after purchasing an additional 188,113 shares during the period. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC now owns 46,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $740,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund by 487.2% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 543,182 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,734,000 after purchasing an additional 450,681 shares during the period. Finally, UBS Group AG boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund by 17.5% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 964,299 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,506,000 after acquiring an additional 143,471 shares during the period.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund 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.