Sanctuary Advisors LLC Takes $286,000 Position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 13,563 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $286,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Muzinich & Co. Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 3rd quarter valued at about $68,000. Total Clarity Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 4th quarter valued at about $204,000. Centiva Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 3rd quarter valued at about $213,000. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 3rd quarter worth about $245,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 4th quarter worth about $258,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MSDL shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.38.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Performance

NYSE MSDL opened at $20.04 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.77 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.86. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a twelve month low of $19.28 and a twelve 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 has a 50-day moving average of $20.84 and a 200 day moving average of $20.48.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by ($0.06). Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a net margin of 54.89% and a return on equity of 12.69%. The firm had revenue of $103.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $107.02 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.98%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s payout ratio is currently 82.30%.

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.