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 cut by stock analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $15.00 to $13.50 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “market perform” rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price points to a potential upside of 7.87% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on NCDL. UBS Group cut their price target on Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from $15.50 to $14.75 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 18th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $13.00 to $12.00 in a report on Friday, June 12th. Zacks Research upgraded 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 raised shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.06.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Price Performance

Shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending stock traded down $0.30 during trading on Monday, reaching $12.52. 16,142 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 230,030. The company has a market capitalization of $618.12 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.17 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.18. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending has a 52-week low of $11.97 and a 52-week high of $16.37.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $11.14 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $46.72 million. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending had a return on equity of 9.53% and a net margin of 24.44%. On average, research analysts predict that Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Marissa Hassen acquired 3,782 shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $13.21 per share, with a total value of $49,960.22. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $129,193.80. The trade was a 63.05% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Treasurer Shaul Vichness acquired 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were bought at an average price of $13.20 per share, for a total transaction of $66,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the treasurer owned 30,705 shares of the company’s stock, 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 have purchased 16,282 shares of company stock valued at $215,485 over the last ninety days. 0.68% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Centurion Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,879,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in 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 raised its position in Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 23.3% in 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 during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in 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 last quarter. Finally, Lido Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 19.9% in the first quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 53,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $705,000 after purchasing an additional 8,932 shares during the last quarter.

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.