Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL) Sees Large Volume Increase – Still a Buy?

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Corp. (NYSE:NCDL) saw strong trading volume on Thursday. Approximately 553,173 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 146% from the previous session’s volume of 225,186 shares. The stock last traded at $10.59 and had previously closed at $10.39.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on NCDL. UBS Group raised shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $14.75 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped 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 report on Monday, August 10th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.62.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Stock Up 2.1%

The company has a market cap of $524.03 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.17 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.59.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $11.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $46.72 million. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 24.44%. On average, 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 firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be paid a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 30th. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio is presently 151.58%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 2.0% during the third quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 646,793 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,270,000 after acquiring an additional 12,522 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $795,000 after purchasing an additional 1,787 shares in the last quarter. Centurion Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,879,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 2.9% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake 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 worth $1,881,000 after purchasing an additional 27,970 shares in the last quarter.

About Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Corp. (NYSE: NCDL) is a closed-end investment company that has elected to be regulated as a business development company. The company provides financing to privately owned, primarily U.S.-based middle-market businesses.

NCDL invests mainly in senior secured loans and other debt investments, with a focus on companies that may have limited access to traditional bank financing. Its portfolio may also include unitranche loans, subordinated debt and, to a lesser extent, equity or equity-related investments.