Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Short Interest Down 20.4% in December

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 129,300 shares, a decline of 20.4% from the November 30th total of 162,500 shares. Currently, 0.2% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 418,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.3 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSDL. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 4.4% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 15,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,000 after acquiring an additional 669 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP bought a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Muzinich & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending during the 3rd quarter valued at about $68,000. Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending by 11.6% in 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. Finally, Centiva Capital LP purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley Direct Lending in the third quarter worth about $213,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.42.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Stock Up 0.8 %

MSDL traded up $0.17 on Friday, hitting $21.35. The company had a trading volume of 315,120 shares, compared to its average volume of 216,876. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a 52-week low of $19.05 and a 52-week high of $24.18. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.23. 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 market capitalization of $1.90 billion and a P/E ratio of 8.37.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Cuts Dividend

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

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.