Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Corp. (NYSE:NCDL) Short Interest Up 76.1% in June

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Corp. (NYSE:NCDL) saw a large growth in short interest in June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totaling 1,022,863 shares, a growth of 76.1% from the June 15th total of 580,918 shares. Currently, 2.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 290,143 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on NCDL shares. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from $15.50 to $14.75 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Wall Street Zen lowered Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 6th. Zacks Research cut Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $13.00 to $12.00 in a research report on Friday, June 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $14.44.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Price Performance

NCDL stock opened at $12.68 on Friday. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending has a 1-year low of $11.97 and a 1-year high of $17.25. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.30. The company has a market capitalization of $626.31 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.57 and a beta of 0.51.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.01). Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending had a net margin of 29.56% and a return on equity of 9.80%. The company had revenue of $17.15 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $47.79 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 28th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 120.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Marissa Hassen purchased 3,782 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $13.21 per share, for a total transaction of $49,960.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,780 shares in the company, valued at $129,193.80. This trade represents a 63.05% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP John Mccally acquired 7,500 shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $13.27 per share, with a total value of $99,525.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the vice president owned 15,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,301.15. This represents a 96.84% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have bought 16,282 shares of company stock worth $215,485. Company insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NCDL. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 40.0% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 689,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,192,000 after buying an additional 196,956 shares in the last quarter. Closed End Fund Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending during the 4th quarter worth approximately $7,374,000. Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,271,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 14.5% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 479,357 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,395,000 after acquiring an additional 60,786 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its position in shares of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending by 454.3% during the 4th quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 150,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,007,000 after acquiring an additional 123,327 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.