Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Sees Large Volume Increase – Still a Buy?

Shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) saw an uptick in trading volume on Friday . 398,803 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 188% from the previous session’s volume of 138,324 shares.The stock last traded at $20.13 and had previously closed at $20.13.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on MSDL. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research note on Friday, September 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 29th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $23.50 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley Direct Lending currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.42.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market cap of $1.79 billion and a P/E ratio of 6.45. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.64.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting 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 business had revenue of $104.19 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.60 million. On average, equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a — dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 10.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MSDL. Cliffwater LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 1st quarter valued at $47,035,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $38,898,000 after buying an additional 250,167 shares during the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 64.8% in the 2nd quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 30,713 shares of the company’s stock valued at $671,000 after buying an additional 12,076 shares during the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 1st quarter valued at about $646,000. Finally, Everpar Advisors LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 3rd quarter valued at about $377,000.

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.