Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.45 (NYSE:MSDL)

Key Points

• Declared a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share with an ex‑dividend/record date of June 30 and payment on July 24, implying an annualized yield of about 11.7%.
• The fund reported quarterly EPS of $0.47, beating consensus of $0.45, but revenue of $58.11 million trailed analyst estimates of $91.89 million.
• Insiders increased their stakes recently—CEO Michael Jr. Occi bought 7,000 shares and insider Jeff M. Day bought 5,000—with insiders owning roughly 0.31% of the stock.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (NYSE:MSDL - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.45 per share on Friday, July 24th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 11.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of MSDL opened at $15.35 on Friday. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has a 12-month low of $13.66 and a 12-month high of $20.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.96 and a beta of 0.56. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $14.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.96.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (NYSE:MSDL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.02. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 30.73%.The firm had revenue of $58.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $91.89 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund will post 1.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund

In other Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund news, CEO Michael Jr. Occi bought 7,000 shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $14.87 per share, with a total value of $104,090.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 28,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at $423,795. The trade was a 32.56% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jeff M. Day bought 5,000 shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $14.89 per share, for a total transaction of $74,450.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 22,818 shares in the company, valued at $339,760.02. This represents a 28.06% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund in the 4th quarter worth approximately $333,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 258,929 shares of the company's stock worth $4,267,000 after acquiring an additional 60,391 shares in the last quarter. Adams Asset Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Adams Asset Advisors LLC now owns 111,397 shares of the company's stock worth $1,836,000 after acquiring an additional 1,764 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,967,697 shares of the company's stock worth $31,640,000 after acquiring an additional 48,248 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund by 102.2% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 12,726 shares of the company's stock worth $205,000 after acquiring an additional 6,432 shares in the last quarter.

About Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund NYSE: MSDL is a closed-end management investment company that seeks to provide investors with attractive current income and the potential for capital appreciation. The fund primarily invests in senior secured loans and other debt instruments issued by middle-market companies. By focusing on floating-rate structures, it aims to offer a measure of protection against rising interest rates while generating regular cash distributions.

The fund's investment strategy centers on building a diversified portfolio of direct lending opportunities across a broad range of industries, including healthcare, business services, and industrials.

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