Jane Street Group LLC Buys 26,216 Shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL)

Jane Street Group LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) by 175.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 41,146 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,216 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending were worth $850,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,922,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,712,000 after purchasing an additional 71,855 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 1,987.0% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 352,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,287,000 after purchasing an additional 335,800 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 207.9% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 237,754 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,912,000 after purchasing an additional 160,536 shares during the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 102.9% in the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 164,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,389,000 after purchasing an additional 83,217 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Naviter Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,434,000.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE MSDL opened at $19.45 on Friday. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a one year low of $17.59 and a one year high of $24.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 1.56. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.63 and a beta of 0.46.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.04). Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a return on equity of 12.69% and a net margin of 54.89%. The firm had revenue of $101.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $102.86 million. As a group, analysts expect that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio is 91.74%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MSDL shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $20.50 to $19.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Four investment 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.00.

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.