Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL) Hits New 1-Year Low – Here’s Why

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Corp. (NYSE:NCDL) hit a new 52-week low on Monday. The stock traded as low as $10.96 and last traded at $11.0510, with a volume of 843 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $11.02.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th. Zacks Research raised Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $13.00 to $12.00 in a report on Friday, June 12th. UBS Group upgraded Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $14.75 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from $15.00 to $13.50 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.62.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Price Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $12.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $12.77. The company has a market cap of $538.60 million, a PE ratio of 11.48 and a beta of 0.55.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.02. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending had a net margin of 24.44% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The business had revenue of $11.14 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $46.72 million. On average, analysts forecast that Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Corp. will post 1.6 EPS for the current 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 dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.2%. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 151.58%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Confluence Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 2.6% in the third quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 70,694 shares of the company’s stock worth $795,000 after purchasing an additional 1,787 shares during the last quarter. Centurion Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,879,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 2.9% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 23.3% during the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 28.7% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 152,024 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,934,000 after purchasing an additional 33,918 shares during the last quarter.

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.