Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Short Interest Up 99.7% in February

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of 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. Approximately 0.1% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 582,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.1 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSDL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley Direct Lending presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.38.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Performance

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending stock traded up $0.24 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $20.15. The company had a trading volume of 663,391 shares, compared to its average volume of 678,851. The firm has a market cap of $1.78 billion, a PE ratio of 7.90 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 1.56. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a one year low of $19.28 and a one year high of $24.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $20.70 and a 200 day moving average of $20.47.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.06). Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had a return on equity of 12.69% and a net margin of 54.89%. The business had revenue of $103.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $107.02 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Comerica Bank boosted its position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 2,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 1,284 shares in the last quarter. Muzinich & Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the third quarter valued at approximately $68,000. RE Dickinson Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $84,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $103,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 515.5% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 6,771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $140,000 after buying an additional 5,671 shares in the last quarter.

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.