Muzinich & Co. Inc. Purchases Shares of 3,422 Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL)

Muzinich & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 3,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cliffwater LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the first quarter worth approximately $47,035,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 16.3% in the 2nd 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 during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 377.5% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 123,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,449,000 after purchasing an additional 97,893 shares during the last quarter. ASB Consultores LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the third quarter valued at about $1,589,000. Finally, Fountainhead AM LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the third quarter valued at about $515,000.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending stock opened at $20.33 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.80 billion and a PE ratio of 7.97. The business has a 50 day moving average of $19.99 and a 200 day moving average of $20.07. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 52 week low of $19.05 and a 52 week high of $24.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a — dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a dividend yield of 10.1%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio is 78.43%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MSDL shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a report on Friday, September 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.