Two Sigma Advisers LP Acquires Shares of 23,900 Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL)

Two Sigma Advisers LP purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 23,900 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $494,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,922,174 shares of the company's stock worth $39,712,000 after purchasing an additional 71,855 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 1,987.0% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 352,700 shares of the company's stock worth $7,287,000 after acquiring an additional 335,800 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 207.9% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 237,754 shares of the company's stock worth $4,912,000 after purchasing an additional 160,536 shares during the period. Activest Wealth Management increased its stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 102.9% during the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 164,060 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,389,000 after purchasing an additional 83,217 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Naviter Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the fourth quarter worth $3,434,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $20.50 to $19.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. UBS Group dropped their price target on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.50 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut 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 report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective 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, April 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $20.00.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Price Performance

NYSE MSDL traded up $0.04 on Friday, reaching $19.47. 828,734 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 585,502. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 12 month low of $17.59 and a 12 month high of $24.18. The company has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.64 and a beta of 0.42. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $19.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.04). Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a return on equity of 12.69% and a net margin of 54.89%. The firm had revenue of $101.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $102.86 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.27%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending's payout ratio is currently 91.74%.

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.