Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) saw a large decrease in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 129,300 shares, a decrease of 20.4% from the November 30th total of 162,500 shares. Approximately 0.2% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 418,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.3 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.42.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MSDL. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the third quarter worth $510,000. Fountainhead AM LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 3rd quarter worth about $515,000. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 377.5% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 123,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,449,000 after purchasing an additional 97,893 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,555,000. Finally, ASB Consultores LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,589,000.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Performance

NYSE MSDL traded down $0.02 during trading on Monday, reaching $21.33. 278,998 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 217,140. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a fifty-two week low of $19.05 and a fifty-two week high of $24.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.89 billion and a P/E ratio of 8.36. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $20.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $20.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 1.56.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a — dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 10.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.43%.

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.