Zuckerman Investment Group LLC Acquires Shares of 36,000 Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL)

Zuckerman Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 36,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $756,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 4.4% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 15,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,000 after buying an additional 669 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 11.6% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 38,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $764,000 after buying an additional 4,025 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 15.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 34,161 shares of the company’s stock worth $706,000 after acquiring an additional 4,573 shares during the last quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 36.2% in the 4th quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 25,969 shares of the company’s stock valued at $537,000 after acquiring an additional 6,901 shares during the period. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 38.3% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 29,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $606,000 after acquiring an additional 8,113 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSDL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.10.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Up 5.6 %

NYSE:MSDL opened at $18.78 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.66 billion, a PE ratio of 7.36 and a beta of 0.44. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $20.27 and a 200-day moving average of $20.45. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 52 week low of $17.59 and a 52 week high of $24.18. 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 (NYSE:MSDL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.06). The business 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%. Analysts predict that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.65%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.30%.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending 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.