Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Receives $21.92 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the six brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $21.92.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MSDL. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of 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. Finally, Raymond James cut shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MSDL. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 1st quarter worth approximately $223,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 1st quarter worth approximately $223,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 1st quarter worth approximately $646,000. Van ECK Associates Corp bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,973,000. Finally, Cliffwater LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 1st quarter worth approximately $47,035,000.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Performance

Shares of MSDL opened at $21.85 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a fifty-two week low of $19.05 and a fifty-two week high of $24.18. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.94. The company has a market cap of $1.95 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.05.

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 business had revenue of $99.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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, equities research analysts predict 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

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.