Short Interest in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Decreases By 20.4%

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 129,300 shares, a decline of 20.4% from the November 30th total of 162,500 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 418,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.3 days. Currently, 0.2% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $21.42.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Allworth Financial LP bought a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Muzinich & Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 3rd quarter valued at about $68,000. Centiva Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 3rd quarter valued at about $213,000. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $245,000. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $271,000.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Price Performance

MSDL stock traded up $0.17 during trading on Friday, hitting $21.35. The company had a trading volume of 315,120 shares, compared to its average volume of 216,876. The business has a 50 day moving average of $20.62 and a 200 day moving average of $20.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.90 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a fifty-two week low of $19.05 and a fifty-two week high of $24.18.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a dividend yield of 10.1%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 78.43%.

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.