Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Cuts Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL) Price Target to $13.50

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL) had its price objective decreased by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $15.00 to $13.50 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $13.00 to $12.00 in a report on Friday, June 12th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from $15.50 to $14.75 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.06.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Stock Performance

NCDL stock opened at $12.45 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $12.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $13.16. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending has a 52-week low of $11.97 and a 52-week high of $16.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $614.91 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.11 and a beta of 0.51.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL) last posted 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 return on equity of 9.53% and a net margin of 24.44%.The company had revenue of $11.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $46.72 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.6%. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio is 151.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending news, VP John Mccally bought 7,500 shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $13.27 per share, with a total value of $99,525.00. Following the acquisition, the vice president owned 15,245 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,301.15. This trade represents a 96.84% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending in the 2nd quarter worth about $152,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 17.6% during the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 36,025 shares of the company’s stock valued at $599,000 after acquiring an additional 5,391 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 1,118 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 11.4% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 18,678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $302,000 after acquiring an additional 1,918 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 41.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 86,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,393,000 after acquiring an additional 25,106 shares during the last quarter.

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.