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

Shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the six research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $21.10.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on MSDL shares. 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 3rd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 3,509.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 28,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $571,000 after acquiring an additional 28,072 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 4th quarter valued at about $511,000. Shikiar Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,780,000. Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the third quarter worth approximately $1,555,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the third quarter valued at approximately $295,000.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Trading Up 3.6 %

Shares of MSDL stock opened at $19.17 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.52 and a beta of 0.44. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a twelve month low of $17.59 and a twelve month high of $24.18. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.44.

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

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.43%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.30%.

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.