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

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) shares saw unusually-high trading volume on Friday . Approximately 116,452 shares were traded 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average of $20.11 and a 200-day moving average of $21.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.84 billion and a P/E ratio of 6.63.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63. The firm had revenue of $104.19 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 million. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a net margin of 62.34% and a return on equity of 12.87%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 16.3% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,780,243 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,898,000 after purchasing an additional 250,167 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $671,000 after purchasing an additional 12,076 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the first quarter worth approximately $223,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the first quarter worth approximately $223,000. Finally, Cliffwater LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the first quarter valued at approximately $47,035,000.

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.