Short Interest in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Rises By 101.7%

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 146,200 shares, a growth of 101.7% from the February 28th total of 72,500 shares. Approximately 0.2% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 617,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.2 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.38.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Performance

Shares of MSDL traded down $0.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $20.71. 579,179 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 654,889. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 1 year low of $19.28 and a 1 year high of $24.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 1.56. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $20.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.52. The stock has a market cap of $1.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.12 and a beta of 0.65.

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

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.66%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.30%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MSDL. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,922,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,712,000 after buying an additional 71,855 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 1,987.0% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 352,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,287,000 after acquiring an additional 335,800 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 207.9% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 237,754 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,912,000 after purchasing an additional 160,536 shares in the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 102.9% in the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 164,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,389,000 after purchasing an additional 83,217 shares during the period. Finally, Naviter Wealth LLC purchased a new position in 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.