Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL) Sets New 52-Week Low – Here’s What Happened

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Corp. (NYSE:NCDL) shares reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday. The company traded as low as $10.46 and last traded at $10.5090, with a volume of 16,261 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $10.86.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NCDL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $14.75 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Zacks Research raised shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from $15.00 to $13.50 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.62.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $513.16 million, a PE ratio of 10.94 and a beta of 0.55. The business has a fifty day moving average of $11.89 and a 200-day moving average of $12.64.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $11.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $46.72 million. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 24.44%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Corp. will post 1.60 EPS for the current year.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.9%. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio is presently 151.58%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nottingham Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending in the first quarter worth about $308,000. NewGen Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending during the 1st quarter worth about $355,000. Lido Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 19.9% during the 1st quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 53,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $705,000 after acquiring an additional 8,932 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 70,694 shares of the company’s stock worth $795,000 after acquiring an additional 1,787 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Wealth LLC increased its position in Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 199.3% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 89,776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,142,000 after purchasing an additional 59,777 shares during the period.

About Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Corp. (NYSE:NCDL) is a business development company that seeks to generate current income and, to a lesser extent, long-term capital appreciation by investing in privately owned middle-market companies. The company primarily focuses on directly originated loans and other debt investments rather than publicly traded securities.

NCDL generally invests in senior-secured loans, including first-lien and unitranche loans, and may make select junior debt and equity investments.