Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Price Target Increased to $23.00 by Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) had its price objective hoisted by Royal Bank of Canada from $21.00 to $23.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on MSDL. UBS Group started coverage on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. They issued a buy rating and a $23.50 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods started coverage on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. They issued a market perform rating and a $21.00 price target for the company. Raymond James downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $20.50 to $21.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley Direct Lending presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $21.92.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Performance

Shares of MSDL stock traded down $0.28 on Thursday, reaching $21.91. 12,851 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 120,467. The company has a market cap of $1.96 billion and a P/E ratio of 7.07. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 1 year low of $19.05 and a 1 year high of $23.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $22.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.63. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a net margin of 62.34% and a return on equity of 12.87%. The firm had revenue of $99.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $98.65 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.13%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.52%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the first quarter worth about $223,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 1st quarter worth $223,000. Cliffwater LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 1st quarter worth $47,035,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter valued at about $646,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the first quarter worth about $32,973,000.

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.