Royal Bank of Canada Raises Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Price Target to $23.00

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) had its price target increased by Royal Bank of Canada from $21.00 to $23.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on MSDL. UBS Group began coverage on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. They issued a buy rating and a $23.50 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $20.50 to $21.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Raymond James cut Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods began coverage on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. They set a market perform rating and a $21.00 target price for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $21.92.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of MSDL stock opened at $21.89 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.96 billion and a PE ratio of 7.06. The company has a 50-day moving average of $22.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 1-year low of $19.05 and a 1-year high of $23.45.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.63. The company had revenue of $99.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $98.65 million. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a return on equity of 12.87% and a net margin of 62.34%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.14%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.52%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSDL. Van ECK Associates Corp acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,973,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter valued at approximately $646,000. Cliffwater LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter valued at approximately $47,035,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter valued at approximately $223,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter valued at approximately $223,000.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending 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.