Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Stock Price Down 0.5%

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) shares fell 0.5% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $21.16 and last traded at $21.66. 36,887 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 48% from the average session volume of 71,394 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.76.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MSDL. UBS Group began coverage on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $23.50 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $21.00 price objective on the stock. Raymond James began coverage on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $22.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $20.50 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.58.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.92 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.91. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $21.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last issued its earnings results on Friday, March 1st. The company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $100.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $97.34 million. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a return on equity of 13.08% and a net margin of 62.81%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a — dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a yield of 10.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.90%.

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.