Royal Bank of Canada Boosts Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Price Target to $23.00

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) had its target price lifted by investment analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $21.00 to $23.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 4.97% from the company’s previous close.

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

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Performance

Shares of MSDL stock traded down $0.28 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $21.91. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 12,851 shares, compared to its average volume of 120,467. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 52-week low of $19.05 and a 52-week high of $23.45. The company has a 50-day moving average of $22.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.96 billion and a PE ratio of 7.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.63. The company had revenue of $99.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $98.65 million. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a return on equity of 12.87% and a net margin of 62.34%. Equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

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

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.