Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.50

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 28th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share on Friday, April 25th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE:MSDL traded down $0.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $20.23. 1,568,654 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 672,276. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $20.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.47. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 12-month low of $19.05 and a 12-month high of $24.18. The stock has a market cap of $1.79 billion and a P/E ratio of 7.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $103.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $107.02 million. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a return on equity of 12.69% and a net margin of 54.89%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.63.

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.