Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Receives “Outperform” Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $22.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target points to a potential upside of 9.02% from the company’s current price.

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.38.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Trading Down 1.1 %

MSDL stock traded down $0.23 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $20.18. 163,213 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 668,955. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $20.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.79 billion and a PE ratio of 7.91. 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 one year low of $19.28 and a one year high of $24.18.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.06). Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a net margin of 54.89% and a return on equity of 12.69%. The business had revenue of $103.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $107.02 million. Equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in 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 period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 207.9% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 237,754 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,912,000 after purchasing an additional 160,536 shares in the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management grew its position in 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 buying an additional 83,217 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Naviter Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the fourth quarter valued at $3,434,000.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Company 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.