Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (NYSE:MSDL) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (NYSE:MSDL) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $17.75.

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Zacks Research raised Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Raymond James Financial set a $18.50 price target on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund from $20.00 to $18.50 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund from $16.00 to $16.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $18.00 target price (down from $19.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund Stock Performance

MSDL opened at $17.59 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.99. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has a 52-week low of $15.70 and a 52-week high of $21.75. The company has a market cap of $1.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.66 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (NYSE:MSDL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $99.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $98.55 million. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund had a net margin of 35.92% and a return on equity of 10.21%. Equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.4%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund’s dividend payout ratio is presently 121.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Joan Binstock bought 9,030 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $16.64 per share, for a total transaction of $150,259.20. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 50,042 shares in the company, valued at approximately $832,698.88. This trade represents a 22.02% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.21% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSDL. Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund in the 1st quarter worth $285,000. LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund by 116.6% in the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 121,646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,428,000 after purchasing an additional 65,482 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund by 9.2% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 37,314 shares of the company’s stock worth $745,000 after purchasing an additional 3,153 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP raised its stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund by 53.1% during the first quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 29,058 shares of the company’s stock worth $580,000 after purchasing an additional 10,073 shares during the period. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund in the 1st quarter valued at about $461,000.

About Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund

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.