B. Riley Begins Coverage on New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC)

Equities researchers at B. Riley initiated coverage on shares of New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday. The brokerage set a “neutral” rating and a $11.00 price target on the stock. B. Riley’s target price indicates a potential upside of 2.71% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of New Mountain Finance from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of New Mountain Finance from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th.

New Mountain Finance Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ NMFC opened at $10.71 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.09. New Mountain Finance has a fifty-two week low of $8.84 and a fifty-two week high of $12.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.20 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 2.23 and a quick ratio of 2.23.

New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.32. New Mountain Finance had a net margin of 30.28% and a return on equity of 11.25%. The business had revenue of $85.66 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.65 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.36 earnings per share. New Mountain Finance’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that New Mountain Finance will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David Ogens bought 5,000 shares of New Mountain Finance stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $11.44 per share, with a total value of $57,200.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 179,020 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,047,988.80. This trade represents a 2.87% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 11.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On New Mountain Finance

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NMFC. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in New Mountain Finance in the 3rd quarter worth $2,608,000. Rockingstone Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of New Mountain Finance by 79.1% during the 4th quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC now owns 282,107 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,177,000 after buying an additional 124,599 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of New Mountain Finance by 31.4% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 254,181 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,862,000 after buying an additional 60,732 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of New Mountain Finance by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 35,455 shares of the company’s stock worth $399,000 after buying an additional 1,188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in shares of New Mountain Finance during the 4th quarter worth about $309,000. 32.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About New Mountain Finance

New Mountain Finance Corporation (Nasdaq: NMFC), a business development company is a private equity / buyouts and loan fund specializes in directly investing and lending to middle market companies in defensive growth industries. The fund prefers investing in buyout and middle market companies. It also makes investments in debt securities at all levels of the capital structure including first and second lien debt, unsecured notes, and mezzanine securities.