Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Sees Large Volume Increase - Should You Buy?

Shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL - Get Free Report) saw strong trading volume on Monday . 62,735 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 55% from the previous session's volume of 139,314 shares.The stock last traded at $19.99 and had previously closed at $20.02.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research report on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group cut shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $23.50 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $21.42.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The business's fifty day moving average is $20.03 and its 200 day moving average is $20.30. The company has a market cap of $1.79 billion and a P/E ratio of 6.47.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.63. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a return on equity of 12.57% and a net margin of 60.60%. The firm had revenue of $104.19 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a -- dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. This represents a dividend yield of 10.1%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending's dividend payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MSDL. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the first quarter valued at approximately $223,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter worth $223,000. Everpar Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the third quarter worth $377,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter worth $646,000. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 64.8% during the second quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 30,713 shares of the company's stock valued at $671,000 after buying an additional 12,076 shares during the period.

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.