XTX Topco Ltd Purchases Shares of 29,142 Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL)

XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 29,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $602,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. RE Dickinson Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the fourth quarter worth $84,000. Bank of Nova Scotia acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 4th quarter valued at about $200,000. Total Clarity Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the fourth quarter valued at about $204,000. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the fourth quarter worth about $229,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the fourth quarter worth about $258,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price 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 note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.50.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of MSDL opened at $19.27 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $20.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 1.56. The company has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.56 and a beta of 0.44. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 52-week low of $17.59 and a 52-week high of $24.18.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by ($0.06). Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a return on equity of 12.69% and a net margin of 54.89%. The company had revenue of $103.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $107.02 million. Analysts predict that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio is 82.30%.

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.