Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $21.58.

MSDL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $21.00 price target for the company. UBS Group assumed coverage on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $23.50 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a report on Monday, March 4th. Raymond James assumed coverage on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $22.00 price target on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $20.50 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Trading Up 2.3 %

NYSE:MSDL opened at $21.34 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.90 billion and a P/E ratio of 6.82. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a twelve month low of $19.05 and a twelve month high of $22.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.49.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 1st. The company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $100.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $97.34 million. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a net margin of 62.81% and a return on equity of 11.51%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a — dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 4th. This represents a dividend yield of 10.1%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.90%.

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.