Analysts Set Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Target Price at $21.92

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the six ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $21.58.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MSDL shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Raymond James downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. UBS Group cut shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $23.50 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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 report on Friday, July 26th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MSDL. Van ECK Associates Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,973,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 1st quarter worth $646,000. Cliffwater LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 1st quarter valued at $47,035,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 1st quarter valued at $223,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 1st quarter worth $223,000.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Price Performance

Shares of MSDL opened at $20.59 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.41. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 52-week low of $19.05 and a 52-week high of $24.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.84 billion and a PE ratio of 6.64.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.63. The company 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.71%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s payout ratio is 64.52%.

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.