Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL) Sees Strong Trading Volume – Should You Buy?

Shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Corp. (NYSE:NCDL) saw strong trading volume on Thursday. Approximately 553,173 shares traded hands 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on NCDL. 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective 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 raised shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $14.75 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.62.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Stock Down 0.6%

The stock has a market capitalization of $520.39 million, a P/E ratio of 11.09 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.56.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL) last announced its quarterly 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. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 24.44%. The company had revenue of $11.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $46.72 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Corp. will post 1.60 earnings per share for the current year.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 30th. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio is presently 151.58%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NCDL. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 646,793 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,270,000 after purchasing an additional 12,522 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 2.6% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Centurion Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,879,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 23.3% in the first 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 in the last quarter.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Company Profile

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.