Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Trading Down 0%

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL)’s stock price dropped 0% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $23.53 and last traded at $23.56. Approximately 31,366 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 4% from the average daily volume of 32,519 shares. The stock had previously closed at $23.57.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $20.50 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Raymond James lowered shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.92.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The company has a market capitalization of $2.11 billion and a P/E ratio of 7.60. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $22.20.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63. The firm had revenue of $99.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $98.65 million. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a net margin of 62.34% and a return on equity of 12.87%. As a group, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.52%.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cliffwater LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the first quarter worth $47,035,000. Van ECK Associates Corp bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the first quarter worth $32,973,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the first quarter worth $646,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the first quarter worth $223,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter valued at about $223,000.

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.