Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (MSDL) – What Are Analysts Thinking About This Stock?

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (NYSE:MSDL) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $15.17.

MSDL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund from $14.00 to $14.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Raymond James Financial set a $15.00 target price on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund in a research report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund from $16.25 to $15.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Engineers Gate Manager LP grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund by 145.0% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 46,340 shares of the company’s stock valued at $701,000 after purchasing an additional 27,425 shares in the last quarter. TT Capital Management LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund by 19.7% in the third quarter. TT Capital Management LLC now owns 411,059 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,603,000 after purchasing an additional 67,742 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 104,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,727,000 after purchasing an additional 6,911 shares in the last quarter. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund by 160.0% during the first quarter. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC now owns 26,001 shares of the company’s stock valued at $363,000 after purchasing an additional 16,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund during the third quarter valued at $45,000.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund Stock Performance

MSDL opened at $13.21 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.15 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a fifty day moving average of $14.35 and a 200 day moving average of $14.92. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has a fifty-two week low of $12.71 and a fifty-two week high of $17.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a current ratio of 1.71.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (NYSE:MSDL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45. The company had revenue of $88.77 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.99 million. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund had a net margin of 15.97% and a return on equity of 9.61%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund will post 1.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th were paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.6%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund’s payout ratio is presently 260.87%.

About Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (NYSE: MSDL) is a business development company focused on providing financing to privately held, middle-market companies. The fund seeks to generate current income and, to a lesser extent, capital appreciation by investing primarily in senior secured loans and other debt investments.

MSDL generally targets established companies with strong market positions and invests across a range of industries. Its portfolio may include first-lien and unitranche loans, as well as selectively structured junior debt and equity investments.