Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (MSDL) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (NYSE: MSDL) is a business development company that seeks to generate current income and, to a lesser extent, long-term capital appreciation through investments in privately held middle-market companies. The fund is externally managed by MS Capital Partners Adviser Inc., an investment adviser affiliated with Morgan Stanley Investment Management.

MSDL primarily invests in directly originated senior secured loans, including first-lien and unitranche loans, to companies across a range of industries. Its investment strategy is focused on providing financing to established middle-market businesses, with the portfolio generally consisting of privately negotiated credit investments rather than publicly traded securities.

The fund primarily serves companies in the United States and uses Morgan Stanley’s lending and investment-management platform to source, evaluate and manage investments. MSDL began operations in the 2020s and subsequently listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange, expanding access to its direct-lending strategy for public-market investors.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $13.38 to $13.55
• 50-Day Range: $13.34 to $15.59
• 52-Week Range: $13.23 to $17.91
• Volume: 550,871 shs
• Average Volume: 465,695 shs
• Market Capitalization: $1.13 billion
• P/E Ratio: 19.42
• Dividend Yield: 13.43%
• Price Target: $15.50
• Consensus Rating: Hold

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund scored higher than 61% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 528th out of 853 stocks in the finance sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Hold

Consensus Rating

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has received a consensus rating of Hold. The company's average rating score is 2.14, and is based on no strong buy ratings, 1 buy rating, 6 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Upside Potential

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has a consensus price target of $15.50, representing about 15.7% upside from its current price of $13.40.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has only been the subject of 1 research reports in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 1.10%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund are expected to grow by 1.10% in the coming year, from $1.82 to $1.84 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund is 19.42, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 39.01.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund is 19.42, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Finance sector average P/E ratio of about 24.72.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has a P/B Ratio of 0.67. P/B Ratios below 1 indicate that a company could be undervalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

4.71% of the float of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 9.75.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has recently decreased by 2.40%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving.

Dividend

• Score: 1.7 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Weak

Dividend Leadership

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund is a leading dividend payer. It pays a dividend yield of 13.50%, putting its dividend yield in the top 25% of dividend-paying stocks.

Dividend Growth

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund is 260.87%. Payout ratios above 75% are not desirable because they may not be sustainable.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on EPS estimates, Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund will have a dividend payout ratio of 97.83% in the coming year. This indicates that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund may not be able to sustain their current dividend.

News and Social Media

• Score: 2.3 / 5
• News Sentiment: -0.33

News Sentiment

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has a news sentiment score of -0.33. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a lower news sentiment than the 0.59 average news sentiment score of Finance companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 2 news articles for Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund this week, compared to 2 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

5 people have searched for MSDL on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 400% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

4 people have added Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 300% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 0.0 / 5
• Insider Trading: N/A

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

0.31% of the stock of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has minimal institutional ownership at this time.

Company Calendar

• Record date for 7/24 Dividend: 6/30/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 7/24 Dividend: 6/30/2026
• Dividend Payable: 7/24/2026
• Last Earnings: 8/06/2026
• Record date for 10/23 Dividend: 9/30/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 10/23 Dividend: 9/30/2026
• Today: 10/10/2026
• Dividend Payable: 10/23/2026
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 11/05/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Finance
• Industry: Capital Markets
• Sub-Industry: Asset Management & Custody Banks
• Current Symbol: NYSE:MSDL
• Previous Symbol: NYSE:MSDL
• CIK: 1782524
• Web: www.msdl.com
• Phone: 212-761-4000
• Fax: N/A
• Employees: N/A
• Year Founded: N/A

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund: $15.50
• High Price Target: $17.00
• Low Price Target: $14.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +15.7%
• Consensus Rating: Hold
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.14
• Research Coverage: 7 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $0.69
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 19.42
• Forward P/E Ratio: 7.36
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $122.09 million
• Net Margins: 15.97%
• Pretax Margin: 45.02%
• Return on Equity: 9.61%
• Return on Assets: 4.28%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 1.20
• Current Ratio: 1.71
• Quick Ratio: 1.71

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $72.45 million
• Price / Sales: 15.56
• Cash Flow: $2.64 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 5.08
• Book Value: $20.14 per share
• Price / Book: 0.67

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 84,105,000
• Free Float: 83,844,000
• Market Cap: $1.13 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.58