Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Price Target Raised to $21.00

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) had its price target boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $20.00 to $21.00 in a research report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Price Performance

MSDL stock opened at $21.01 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.86 billion and a P/E ratio of 8.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 1.56. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 1 year low of $19.05 and a 1 year high of $24.18. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.36.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.01. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a net margin of 54.89% and a return on equity of 12.69%. The company had revenue of $109.75 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $107.55 million. On average, equities analysts predict that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a — dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a dividend yield of 10.1%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.43%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 48.0% during the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 27,228 shares of the company’s stock worth $563,000 after purchasing an additional 8,830 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the fourth quarter worth $286,000. Americana Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the fourth quarter valued at $2,819,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,922,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,712,000 after acquiring an additional 71,855 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 4th quarter worth $312,000.

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.