Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Stock Price Down 0.5%

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL)’s share price fell 0.5% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $21.16 and last traded at $21.66. 36,887 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 48% from the average session volume of 71,394 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.76.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on MSDL. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods began coverage on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $21.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $20.50 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a report on Monday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $21.00 target price for the company. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $23.50 target price for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.58.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $1.92 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.91. The business has a fifty day moving average of $21.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 1st. The company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $100.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $97.34 million. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a return on equity of 13.08% and a net margin of 62.81%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a — dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 4th. This represents a dividend yield of 10.1%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio is 63.90%.

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.