Van ECK Associates Corp Boosts Holdings in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL)

Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) by 16.3% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,780,243 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 250,167 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending were worth $38,898,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 1st quarter worth about $223,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 1st quarter worth about $223,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 1st quarter worth about $646,000. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 64.8% in the 2nd quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 30,713 shares of the company’s stock worth $671,000 after purchasing an additional 12,076 shares during the period. Finally, Cliffwater LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 1st quarter worth about $47,035,000.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Trading Down 0.0 %

MSDL stock traded down $0.01 during trading on Friday, hitting $20.66. The company had a trading volume of 230,100 shares, compared to its average volume of 135,750. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.85 billion and a P/E ratio of 6.66. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.75. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 52-week low of $19.05 and a 52-week high of $24.18.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a net margin of 62.34% and a return on equity of 12.87%. The business had revenue of $104.19 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.60 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a — dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 10.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MSDL shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. UBS Group cut shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $23.50 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Raymond James cut shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.42.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending 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.