Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Sets New 12-Month High at $24.06

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $24.06 and last traded at $23.95, with a volume of 76349 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $22.89.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MSDL shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Raymond James lowered Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $20.50 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.92.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Trading Up 5.4 %

The company has a market cap of $2.16 billion and a PE ratio of 7.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $22.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.08.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 predict that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.29%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s payout ratio is 64.52%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSDL. Van ECK Associates Corp purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter worth $32,973,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter worth $646,000. Cliffwater LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter worth $47,035,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter worth $223,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter worth $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.