Royal Bank Of Canada Cuts Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (NYSE:MSDL) Price Target to $19.00

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada has reduced its price target for the Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund from $21.00 to $19.00, indicating a potential increase of 6.20% from its current price.
• Other brokerages have varied opinions, with UBS raising their target to $21.00 and Wells Fargo lowering it to $17.00, while Zacks downgraded the stock to a "strong sell."
• Insider trading activity includes significant stock purchases by directors, with a total acquisition of 57,907 shares valued at over $1 million in the last quarter.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (NYSE:MSDL - Get Free Report) had its price target lowered by analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada from $21.00 to $19.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has an "outperform" rating on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada's target price would indicate a potential upside of 7.95% from the company's current price.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on MSDL. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund from $20.50 to $21.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $19.30.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund Stock Down 1.0%

MSDL traded down $0.17 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $17.60. 694,543 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 583,221. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $18.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.16. The company has a market cap of $1.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.12 and a beta of 0.33. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has a fifty-two week low of $17.37 and a fifty-two week high of $21.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.19.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (NYSE:MSDL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $99.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.99 million. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund had a return on equity of 11.24% and a net margin of 42.65%. As a group, analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David N. Miller purchased 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $17.69 per share, for a total transaction of $176,900.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 17,168 shares of the company's stock, valued at $303,701.92. The trade was a 139.51% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Adam S. Metz purchased 28,248 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $17.67 per share, for a total transaction of $499,142.16. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 28,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at $499,142.16. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 57,907 shares of company stock worth $1,025,013 over the last three months. 0.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. TT Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund by 19.6% in the 2nd quarter. TT Capital Management LLC now owns 237,762 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,451,000 after buying an additional 38,990 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund by 1.8% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 49,345 shares of the company's stock worth $924,000 after acquiring an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. HRT Financial LP grew its position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund by 123.0% in the second quarter. HRT Financial LP now owns 176,399 shares of the company's stock worth $3,302,000 after acquiring an additional 97,279 shares in the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund in the second quarter worth approximately $257,000. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund by 33.4% in the second quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 28,845 shares of the company's stock worth $540,000 after acquiring an additional 7,221 shares in the last quarter.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund Company Profile

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.