Kevin Shannon Buys 10,000 Shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Stock

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL - Get Free Report) Director Kevin Shannon acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $19.43 per share, for a total transaction of $194,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,700 shares of the company's stock, valued at $110,751. This represents a -232.56% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending stock traded down $0.04 on Friday, reaching $19.44. The stock had a trading volume of 317,200 shares, compared to its average volume of 574,511. The business's 50-day moving average price is $19.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 1.56. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a fifty-two week low of $17.59 and a fifty-two week high of $24.18. The stock has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.62 and a beta of 0.42.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $102.86 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending's payout ratio is 91.74%.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,922,174 shares of the company's stock worth $39,712,000 after buying an additional 71,855 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 1,987.0% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 352,700 shares of the company's stock worth $7,287,000 after buying an additional 335,800 shares during the last quarter. Sfmg LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 85.3% during the first quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 256,815 shares of the company's stock worth $5,126,000 after acquiring an additional 118,195 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position 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 during the period. Finally, Muzinich & Co. Inc. increased its position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 103.5% during the first quarter. Muzinich & Co. Inc. now owns 212,700 shares of the company's stock worth $4,245,000 after acquiring an additional 108,199 shares during the period.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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, April 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of 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. 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 for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $20.00.

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.