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: $17.66 to $17.87
• 50-Day Range: $17.66 to $19.80
• 52-Week Range: $17.37 to $21.75
• Volume: 830,136 shs
• Average Volume: 838,467 shs
• Market Capitalization: $1.55 billion
• P/E Ratio: 9.24
• Dividend Yield: 11.21%
• Price Target: $19.70
• Consensus Rating: Hold

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund scored higher than 50% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 665th out of 926 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 only been the subject of 2 research reports in the past 90 days.

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 9.24, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 28.41.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund is 9.24, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Finance sector average P/E ratio of about 19.39.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has a P/B Ratio of 0.87. 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

0.22% 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 47.31%, 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 11.34%, 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 103.63%. 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

0.22% 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 47.31%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 1.5 / 5
• News Sentiment: -0.31

News Sentiment

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has a news sentiment score of -0.31. 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 1.03 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 3 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

Only 2 people have added Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -60% 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 $1,219,313.00 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 beginning of the year. Since then, MSDL shares have decreased by 13.6% and is now trading at $17.84.

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

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (NYSE:MSDL) posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August, 7th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.02. The firm earned $99.51 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $99.99 million. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund had a net margin of 42.65% and a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 11.24%.

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

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund's top institutional shareholders include Generali Asset Management SPA SGR (2.00%), Muzinich & Co. Inc. (0.52%), Americana Partners LLC (0.43%) and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. (0.42%). Insiders that own company stock include Joan Binstock, Adam S Metz, Michael Jr Occi, David N Miller, 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 7/25 Dividend: 6/30/2025
• Ex-Dividend for 7/25 Dividend: 6/30/2025
• Dividend Payable: 7/25/2025
• Last Earnings: 8/07/2025
• Today: 8/23/2025
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 11/06/2025
• 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 Price Target for Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund: $19.70
• High Price Target: $21.00
• Low Price Target: $17.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +10.4%
• Consensus Rating: Hold
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.20
• Research Coverage: 5 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $1.93
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 9.24
• Forward P/E Ratio: 6.97
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $215.56 million
• Net Margins: 42.65%
• Pretax Margin: 48.75%
• Return on Equity: 11.24%
• Return on Assets: 5.28%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 1.15
• Current Ratio: 1.19
• Quick Ratio: 1.19

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $416.08 million
• Price / Sales: 3.72
• Cash Flow: $2.47 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 7.23
• Book Value: $20.62 per share
• Price / Book: 0.87

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 86,830,000
• Free Float: 86,653,000
• Market Cap: $1.55 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.34