Short Interest in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Declines By 21.0%

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 47,500 shares, a drop of 21.0% from the August 31st total of 60,100 shares. Approximately 0.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 187,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.3 days.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cliffwater LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the first quarter valued at approximately $47,035,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 16.3% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,780,243 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,898,000 after purchasing an additional 250,167 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 64.8% during 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 period. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the first quarter valued at about $646,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter worth about $223,000.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Price Performance

Shares of MSDL traded up $0.14 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $20.02. 131,700 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 136,985. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.79 billion and a PE ratio of 6.46. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a fifty-two week low of $19.05 and a fifty-two week high of $24.18. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a net margin of 60.60% and a return on equity of 12.57%. The firm had revenue of $104.19 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.60 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report 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 target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.42.

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.