Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (NYSE:MSDL) Rating Increased to Hold at Zacks Research

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (NYSE:MSDL) was upgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

MSDL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company set a $17.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Raymond James Financial set a $18.50 price target on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. UBS Group cut their price target on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund from $19.50 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund from $16.00 to $16.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.92.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSDL opened at $16.70 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.12 and a beta of 0.26. The company’s 50-day moving average is $16.99 and its 200 day moving average is $18.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.45. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has a fifty-two week low of $15.70 and a fifty-two week high of $21.75.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (NYSE:MSDL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $99.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $98.55 million. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund had a net margin of 35.92% and a return on equity of 10.21%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Joan Binstock bought 9,030 shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund stock in a transaction on Monday, October 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $16.64 per share, with a total value of $150,259.20. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 50,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $832,698.88. This represents a 22.02% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MSDL. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund by 332.5% in the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 21,624 shares of the company’s stock worth $432,000 after acquiring an additional 16,624 shares during the last quarter. Cowa LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund during the first quarter worth about $268,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund in the first quarter worth approximately $251,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund in the first quarter valued at approximately $461,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP lifted its position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund by 53.1% during the first quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 29,058 shares of the company’s stock valued at $580,000 after purchasing an additional 10,073 shares during the last quarter.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund 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.