RE Dickinson Investment Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 4,077 Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL)

RE Dickinson Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 4,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSDL. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 4.4% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 15,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $315,000 after buying an additional 669 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 38,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $764,000 after acquiring an additional 4,025 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 15.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 34,161 shares of the company’s stock valued at $706,000 after purchasing an additional 4,573 shares during the period. Everpar Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 36.2% during the 4th quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 25,969 shares of the company’s stock valued at $537,000 after purchasing an additional 6,901 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 38.3% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 29,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $606,000 after purchasing an additional 8,113 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on MSDL. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.10.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Price Performance

Shares of MSDL opened at $18.53 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $20.17 and its 200 day moving average is $20.43. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 12-month low of $17.59 and a 12-month high of $24.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market cap of $1.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.27 and a beta of 0.44.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last released 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 business had revenue of $103.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $107.02 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.79%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.30%.

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.