Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Director Acquires $194,300.00 in Stock

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Director Kevin Shannon bought 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $19.43 per share, for a total transaction of $194,300.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 5,700 shares in the company, valued at $110,751. This represents a -232.56% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending stock opened at $19.52 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.65 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $19.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.25. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 52 week low of $17.59 and a 52 week high of $24.18.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $101.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $102.86 million. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a net margin of 54.89% and a return on equity of 12.69%. Sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s payout ratio is currently 91.74%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,922,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,712,000 after purchasing an additional 71,855 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 1,987.0% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 352,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,287,000 after buying an additional 335,800 shares during the last quarter. Sfmg LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 85.3% during the 1st quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 256,815 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,126,000 after buying an additional 118,195 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 207.9% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 237,754 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,912,000 after buying an additional 160,536 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Muzinich & Co. Inc. raised its position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 103.5% during the 1st quarter. Muzinich & Co. Inc. now owns 212,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,245,000 after buying an additional 108,199 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSDL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $20.50 to $19.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.00.

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.