Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com 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 target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $21.10.

MSDL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of 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 Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MSDL. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 313.9% in the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 88,678 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,770,000 after buying an additional 67,251 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the first quarter worth about $66,000. Confluence Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 3.0% in the first quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 26,921 shares of the company’s stock worth $537,000 after acquiring an additional 779 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the fourth quarter valued at about $229,000. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $494,000.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of MSDL stock opened at $18.53 on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 1-year low of $17.59 and a 1-year high of $24.18. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $20.43. The firm has a market cap of $1.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.27 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 1.56.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $103.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $107.02 million. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a net margin of 54.89% and a return on equity of 12.69%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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.