Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Posts Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.06 EPS

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by ($0.06), Zacks reports. The firm had revenue of $103.00 million for 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%.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending stock traded down $0.47 on Friday, hitting $20.23. 1,569,351 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 672,294. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $20.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 52 week low of $19.05 and a 52 week high of $24.18. The company has a market cap of $1.79 billion and a PE ratio of 7.93.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.89%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.43%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley Direct Lending currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.63.

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.