Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Time to Buy?

Shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) saw unusually-high trading volume on Monday . Approximately 328,241 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 66% from the previous session’s volume of 197,672 shares.The stock last traded at $20.85 and had previously closed at $20.43.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.42.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The company has a market capitalization of $1.85 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.13. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $20.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.12.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a — dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a yield of 10.1%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s payout ratio is 78.43%.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSDL. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 1st quarter worth $223,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the first quarter worth $223,000. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 64.8% during the second quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 30,713 shares of the company’s stock worth $671,000 after purchasing an additional 12,076 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 16.3% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,780,243 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,898,000 after purchasing an additional 250,167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Everpar Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the third quarter valued at about $377,000.

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.