Envestnet Asset Management Inc. Acquires New Shares in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL)

Envestnet Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 62,491 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,291,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.07% of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSDL. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,421,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 38.3% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 29,317 shares of the company's stock valued at $606,000 after acquiring an additional 8,113 shares during the last quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 195.3% in the 4th quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP now owns 49,011 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,013,000 after acquiring an additional 32,414 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 207.9% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 237,754 shares of the company's stock worth $4,912,000 after acquiring an additional 160,536 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 334.4% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 125,416 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,591,000 after buying an additional 96,544 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSDL has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $20.50 to $19.50 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $20.20.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending stock opened at $19.47 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a PE ratio of 7.64 and a beta of 0.44. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $19.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $20.39. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 52 week low of $17.59 and a 52 week high of $24.18.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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). The business had revenue of $103.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $107.02 million. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a net margin of 54.89% and a return on equity of 12.69%. Equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.27%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending's dividend payout ratio is presently 82.30%.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending 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.

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