Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (NYSE:MSDL - Get Free Report) rose 0.1% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $19.15 and last traded at $19.08. Approximately 470,088 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 21% from the average daily volume of 388,449 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.07.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
MSDL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund 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 decreased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund from $21.00 to $20.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund from $20.50 to $19.50 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $20.00.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund Stock Performance
The company has a market cap of $1.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.85 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $19.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.96.
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (NYSE:MSDL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $101.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $102.86 million. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund had a net margin of 47.65% and a return on equity of 11.80%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.37%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 91.74%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund
In related news, Director Kevin Shannon acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $19.43 per share, with a total value of $194,300.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,700 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $110,751. This trade represents a -232.56% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.21% of the company's stock.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund
A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Comerica Bank grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 2,568 shares of the company's stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 1,284 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund during the 1st quarter worth approximately $66,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund during the 1st quarter worth approximately $71,000. RE Dickinson Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund during the 4th quarter worth approximately $84,000. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund in the 4th quarter worth approximately $103,000.
About Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund
(
Get Free Report)
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.
Featured Stories
Before you consider Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund wasn't on the list.
While Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund currently has a Hold rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Wondering what the next stocks will be that hit it big, with solid fundamentals? Enter your email address to see which stocks MarketBeat analysts could become the next blockbuster growth stocks.
Get This Free Report
Like this article? Share it with a colleague.
Link copied to clipboard.
