Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Given New $23.00 Price Target at Royal Bank of Canada

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) had its target price upped by Royal Bank of Canada from $21.00 to $23.00 in a report released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on MSDL. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $20.50 to $21.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. They issued a market perform rating and a $21.00 price target for the company. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. They issued a buy rating and a $23.50 price objective for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley Direct Lending presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $21.92.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE:MSDL traded down $0.28 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $21.91. 12,851 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 120,467. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.96 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.07. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a fifty-two week low of $19.05 and a fifty-two week high of $23.45.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting 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 company had revenue of $99.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $98.65 million. Research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.52 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.13%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MSDL. Van ECK Associates Corp bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 1st quarter worth about $32,973,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the first quarter valued at approximately $646,000. Cliffwater LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the first quarter valued at approximately $47,035,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 1st quarter worth $223,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 1st quarter valued at $223,000.

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.