Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Corp. (NYSE:NCDL) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Corp. (NYSE:NCDL) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the six analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $15.50.

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 27th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from $14.75 to $15.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday.

Insider Activity

In other Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending news, Director Kenneth M. Miranda bought 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $12.83 per share, with a total value of $38,490.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 30,000 shares in the company, valued at $384,900. This represents a 11.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Kenneth J. Kencel purchased 10,000 shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $13.04 per share, with a total value of $130,400.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 58,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $757,845.68. This trade represents a 20.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders purchased 47,547 shares of company stock valued at $635,105. Corporate insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 839,143 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,194,000 after buying an additional 106,610 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 2,179.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 742,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,902,000 after buying an additional 709,727 shares during the period. UBS Group AG grew its position in Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 40.0% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 689,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,192,000 after buying an additional 196,956 shares during the period. Callodine Capital Management LP grew its position in Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 9.1% during the third quarter. Callodine Capital Management LP now owns 572,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,905,000 after buying an additional 47,800 shares during the period. Finally, Closed End Fund Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,374,000.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE NCDL opened at $13.63 on Wednesday. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending has a 1 year low of $12.43 and a 1 year high of $17.27. The stock has a market cap of $672.94 million, a P/E ratio of 11.35 and a beta of 0.63. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $13.55 and a 200 day moving average of $13.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.85.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.24). Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending had a net margin of 29.56% and a return on equity of 9.75%. The business had revenue of $17.15 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $47.79 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending will post 1.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 109.92%.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Company Profile

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL) is a closed-end management investment company that seeks to provide shareholders with attractive risk-adjusted returns through a diversified portfolio of direct lending instruments. Established in early 2022, NCDL focuses on privately negotiated debt investments in middle-market companies, primarily within the United States. The fund offers investors access to a segment of the credit markets that has historically been less correlated with public debt markets, aiming to capture yield premiums associated with private lending.

The fund’s investment strategy centers on senior secured loans, unitranche financings and selectively structured mezzanine debt.