Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Shares Sold by LM Advisors LLC

LM Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL - Free Report) by 45.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 21,650 shares of the company's stock after selling 17,856 shares during the period. LM Advisors LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending were worth $450,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Comerica Bank lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 2,568 shares of the company's stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 1,284 shares during the last quarter. RE Dickinson Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 4th quarter worth about $84,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 4th quarter worth about $103,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 515.5% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 6,771 shares of the company's stock worth $140,000 after acquiring an additional 5,671 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 4th quarter valued at about $200,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $20.50 to $19.50 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $20.00.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MSDL traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $19.69. The company had a trading volume of 286,016 shares, compared to its average volume of 597,538. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.31. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a twelve month low of $17.59 and a twelve month high of $24.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.72 and a beta of 0.46.

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

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.16%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 91.74%.

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.