Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Sees Strong Trading Volume

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) saw an uptick in trading volume on Friday . 116,452 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 13% from the previous session’s volume of 134,428 shares.The stock last traded at $20.79 and had previously closed at $20.67.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $23.50 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of 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. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Raymond James lowered Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.42.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $20.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.77. The stock has a market cap of $1.84 billion and a PE ratio of 6.71.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.63. The firm had revenue of $104.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.60 million. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a net margin of 62.34% and a return on equity of 12.87%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 1st quarter worth approximately $223,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 1st quarter worth approximately $223,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the first quarter valued at $646,000. 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. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 1st quarter worth about $32,973,000.

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.