Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Hold” Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on NCDL. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $13.00 to $12.00 in a report on Friday, June 12th. UBS Group cut their price target on Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from $15.50 to $14.75 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $14.44.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Price Performance

NCDL opened at $12.14 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $599.84 million, a P/E ratio of 10.12 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $12.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $13.26. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending has a one year low of $11.97 and a one year high of $17.11.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.01). Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending had a return on equity of 9.80% and a net margin of 29.56%.The firm had revenue of $17.15 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $47.79 million. On average, analysts expect that Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.9%. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending’s payout ratio is currently 120.00%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Marissa Hassen purchased 3,782 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $13.21 per share, for a total transaction of $49,960.22. Following the purchase, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $129,193.80. This represents a 63.05% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Treasurer Shaul Vichness purchased 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $13.20 per share, with a total value of $66,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the treasurer owned 30,705 shares in the company, valued at approximately $405,306. This trade represents a 19.45% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders purchased 16,282 shares of company stock valued at $215,485 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NCDL. Centurion Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending in the second quarter worth about $3,879,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 2.9% during the second quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 442,680 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,498,000 after purchasing an additional 12,646 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 23.3% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 147,909 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,881,000 after purchasing an additional 27,970 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 28.7% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 152,024 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,934,000 after purchasing an additional 33,918 shares during the period. Finally, Lido Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 19.9% during the 1st quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 53,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $705,000 after purchasing an additional 8,932 shares during the period.

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.