Van ECK Associates Corp Grows Position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL)

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) by 16.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,780,243 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 250,167 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp owned approximately 1.99% of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending worth $38,898,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cliffwater LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter valued at about $47,035,000. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 64.8% in the second quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 30,713 shares of the company’s stock valued at $671,000 after purchasing an additional 12,076 shares during the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter valued at $646,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 1st quarter worth about $223,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 1st quarter valued at about $223,000.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Trading Down 0.0 %

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending stock traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $20.66. 230,100 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 135,750. 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 12-month low of $19.05 and a 12-month high of $24.18. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.75. The firm has a market cap of $1.85 billion and a PE ratio of 6.66.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.63. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a return on equity of 12.87% and a net margin of 62.34%. The business had revenue of $104.19 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 million. Research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a — dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a yield of 10.1%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.52%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSDL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James cut shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. UBS Group downgraded Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $23.50 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.42.

About Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

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.