Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) was the target of a large increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 72,500 shares, an increase of 99.7% from the February 13th total of 36,300 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 582,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.1 days. Approximately 0.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Muzinich & Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 3rd quarter valued at about $68,000. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 3rd quarter valued at about $245,000. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,599,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 3rd quarter valued at about $344,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 3rd quarter valued at about $316,000.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Performance

NYSE:MSDL opened at $20.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 1.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $20.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.48. The stock has a market cap of $1.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.90 and a beta of 0.65. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 1-year low of $19.28 and a 1-year high of $24.18.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share 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 net margin of 54.89% and a return on equity of 12.69%. On average, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.93%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s payout ratio is currently 82.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MSDL. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. 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 for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.38.

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.