Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Receives $21.50 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $21.58.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSDL shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research report on Monday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $20.50 to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $23.50 price target for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods assumed coverage on shares of 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $21.00 price objective for the company.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MSDL opened at $21.34 on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a one year low of $19.05 and a one year high of $22.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $1.90 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.82. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $21.49.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 1st. The company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.01. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a net margin of 62.81% and a return on equity of 11.51%. The business had revenue of $100.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $97.34 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a — dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. This represents a yield of 10.1%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.