Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Receives $21.42 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus recommendation of "Hold" by the six ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $21.42.

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a report on Friday, September 13th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MSDL. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 16.3% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,780,243 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,898,000 after buying an additional 250,167 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 377.5% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 123,822 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,449,000 after buying an additional 97,893 shares in the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,599,000. ASB Consultores LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,589,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,555,000.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Up 0.5 %

MSDL stock traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $20.84. 440,966 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 203,985. The firm's 50-day moving average is $20.10 and its 200-day moving average is $20.13. The company has a market cap of $1.85 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 1.56. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 12 month low of $19.05 and a 12 month high of $24.18.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a -- dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a yield of 10.1%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 78.43%.

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.