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

Company Overview

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.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $19.12 to $19.43
• 50-Day Range: $18.62 to $19.97
• 52-Week Range: $17.59 to $23.68
• Volume: 343,420 shs
• Average Volume: 400,922 shs
• Market Capitalization: $1.69 billion
• P/E Ratio: 8.82
• Dividend Yield: 10.40%
• Price Target: $20.00
• Consensus Rating: Hold

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund scored higher than 49% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 627th out of 938 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: 2.1 / 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 2.20, and is based on 1 buy rating, 4 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has been the subject of 5 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.9 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: -7.42%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund are expected to decrease by -7.42% in the coming year, from $2.56 to $2.37 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund is 8.82, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 25.00.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund is 8.82, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Finance sector average P/E ratio of about 19.73.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has a P/B Ratio of 0.92. 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

0.21% 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 0.4, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has recently increased by 52.49%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

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 10.41%, 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 91.74%. 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 84.39% in the coming year. This indicates that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund may not be able to sustain their current dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: N/A
• Environmental Score: N/A

Percentage of Shares Shorted

0.21% 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 0.4, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has recently increased by 52.49%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 1.6 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.86

News Sentiment

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has a news sentiment score of 0.86. 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 news sentiment score is similar to the average news sentiment 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.

MarketBeat Follows

Only 1 people have added Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of 0% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.7 / 5
• Insider Trading: Acquiring Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund insiders have bought more of their company's stock than they have sold. Specifically, they have bought $194,300.00 in company stock and sold $0.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 0.21% of the stock of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund is held by insiders.

MSDL Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have MSDL shares performed this year?

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund's stock was trading at $20.66 at the start of the year. Since then, MSDL stock has decreased by 6.9% and is now trading at $19.23.
View the best growth stocks for 2025 here.

How were Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund's earnings last quarter?

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (NYSE:MSDL) released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May, 8th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.04. The company earned $101.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $102.86 million. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund had a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 11.80% and a net margin of 47.65%.

Who are Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund's major shareholders?

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund's top institutional shareholders include Sfmg LLC (0.29%), Cliffwater LLC (0.28%), Muzinich & Co. Inc. (0.24%) and Raymond James Financial Inc. (0.24%). Insiders that own company stock include Kevin Shannon and Bruce D Frank.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund?

Shares of MSDL stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.

What other stocks do shareholders of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund investors own include ONEOK (OKE), Chevron (CVX), DOW (DOW), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), 3M (MMM), Altria Group (MO) and Exxon Mobil (XOM).

Company Calendar

• Record date for 4/25 Dividend: 3/31/2025
• Ex-Dividend for 4/25 Dividend: 3/31/2025
• Dividend Payable: 4/25/2025
• Last Earnings: 5/08/2025
• Today: 6/29/2025
• Record date for 7/25 Dividend: 6/30/2025
• Ex-Dividend for 7/25 Dividend: 6/30/2025
• Dividend Payable: 7/25/2025
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 8/06/2025
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Finance
• Industry: FIN - SBIC&COMMRL
• Sub-Industry: N/A
• 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 Stock Price Target: $20.00
• High Stock Price Target: $21.00
• Low Stock Price Target: $19.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +4.0%
• Consensus Rating: Hold
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.20
• Research Coverage: 5 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): $2.18
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 8.82
• Forward P/E Ratio: 7.51
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $215.56 million
• Net Margins: 47.65%
• Pretax Margin: 51.25%
• Return on Equity: 11.80%
• Return on Assets: 5.70%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 1.11
• Current Ratio: 1.36
• Quick Ratio: 1.36

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $416.08 million
• Price / Sales: 4.06
• Cash Flow: $2.44 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 7.87
• Book Value: $20.82 per share
• Price / Book: 0.92

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 87,920,000
• Free Float: 87,736,000
• Market Cap: $1.69 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.42