Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Corp. (NYSE:NCDL) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Corp. (NYSE:NCDL) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $13.6250.

Several brokerages recently commented on NCDL. 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. UBS Group raised shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $14.75 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $13.00 to $12.00 in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from $15.00 to $13.50 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 10th.

Institutional Trading of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NCDL. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its stake in shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 3.2% in the second quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 26,426 shares of the company’s stock valued at $428,000 after buying an additional 807 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 33.0% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 4,511 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 1,118 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 190.2% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 1,573 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 11.4% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 18,678 shares of the company’s stock worth $302,000 after acquiring an additional 1,918 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new stake in Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Stock Down 0.2%

NYSE:NCDL opened at $12.49 on Tuesday. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending has a twelve month low of $11.97 and a twelve month high of $16.18. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $12.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $616.88 million, a PE ratio of 13.15 and a beta of 0.52.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.02. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 24.44%.The firm had revenue of $11.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $46.72 million. On average, analysts anticipate that Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be given a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.5%. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 151.58%.

About Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending

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.