JPMorgan Chase & Co. Purchases 96,544 Shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL - Free Report) by 334.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 125,416 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 96,544 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 0.14% of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending worth $2,591,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 4.4% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 15,900 shares of the company's stock valued at $315,000 after acquiring an additional 669 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 38,625 shares of the company's stock valued at $764,000 after acquiring an additional 4,025 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 3rd quarter valued at $295,000. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,555,000. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 3rd quarter worth $271,000.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Performance

Shares of MSDL stock traded down $0.03 on Monday, hitting $19.29. 786,229 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 653,626. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a one year low of $17.59 and a one year high of $24.18. The firm's 50 day moving average is $19.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.70 billion, a PE ratio of 7.56 and a beta of 0.44.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.06). Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a net margin of 54.89% and a return on equity of 12.69%. The firm had revenue of $103.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $107.02 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.37%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending's dividend payout ratio is presently 82.30%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSDL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Five 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 stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $20.20.

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.