Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Earns “Outperform” Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $22.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price suggests a potential upside of 9.29% from the stock’s previous close.

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.38.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Performance

MSDL stock opened at $20.13 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.78 billion and a PE ratio of 7.89. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 12-month low of $19.28 and a 12-month high of $24.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.48.

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 net margin of 54.89% and a return on equity of 12.69%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Comerica Bank increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 2,568 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 1,284 shares during the period. Muzinich & Co. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the third quarter worth approximately $68,000. RE Dickinson Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the fourth quarter worth approximately $84,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the fourth quarter worth approximately $103,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 515.5% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 6,771 shares of the company’s stock worth $140,000 after acquiring an additional 5,671 shares during the period.

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.