Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Given Average Recommendation of "Hold" by Analysts

Shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $20.20.

MSDL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their price target on 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. 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 dropped 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 report on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $20.50 to $19.50 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Up 1.3 %

MSDL stock traded up $0.24 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $19.28. 71,942 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 624,742. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $19.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.35. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 1-year low of $17.59 and a 1-year high of $24.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 1.56. The company has a market cap of $1.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.56 and a beta of 0.46.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $103.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $107.02 million. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a net margin of 54.89% and a return on equity of 12.69%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 3,509.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 28,872 shares of the company's stock worth $571,000 after acquiring an additional 28,072 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the fourth quarter worth about $511,000. Shikiar Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,780,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 1,987.0% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 352,700 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,287,000 after buying an additional 335,800 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,555,000.

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.