Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL) Posts Earnings Results

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL) announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.01), Zacks reports. The company had revenue of $43.67 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.72 million. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 24.44%.

Here are the key takeaways from Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending’s conference call:

• Adjusted net investment income of $0.39 per share exceeded the regular $0.36 distribution, and the board declared a $0.38 per-share fourth-quarter payout, including a $0.02 supplemental distribution.
• Investment activity rebounded sharply, with $213.3 million of gross originations, while the new joint venture generated a 13.6% annualized return and is expected to ramp toward approximately $300 million of investments over the coming quarters.
• Portfolio credit metrics remained broadly stable, with 5.2x net leverage, 2.3x interest coverage, and non-accruals at 1.5% of fair value; however, the watch list increased to 11.6% from 10.8%.
• Net asset value declined modestly to $17.13 per share from $17.19, while third-quarter GAAP net income included $0.06 per share of net realized and unrealized losses, primarily from restructuring two underperforming debt positions.
• NCDL reduced gross leverage to 1.23x debt-to-equity, completed a $100 million unsecured-notes tap, and began repurchasing shares under its $50 million program at an average price of about $10.76, which management characterized as a meaningful discount to NAV.

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Trading Up 0.7%

NCDL traded up $0.08 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $11.47. The stock had a trading volume of 175,481 shares, compared to its average volume of 231,559. The firm has a market cap of $566.50 million, a PE ratio of 12.07 and a beta of 0.55. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending has a 12 month low of $10.31 and a 12 month high of $15.07. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.74.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NCDL. UBS Group raised Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $14.75 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 25th. Zacks Research upgraded Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending from $15.00 to $13.50 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.62.

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.