New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) Rating Increased to Hold at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. New Street Research set a $10.00 price objective on shares of New Mountain Finance in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of New Mountain Finance from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. B. Riley reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $10.00 price objective (down previously from $11.00) on shares of New Mountain Finance in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of New Mountain Finance in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer set a $11.00 price target on New Mountain Finance and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $10.17.

New Mountain Finance Stock Up 1.4%

New Mountain Finance stock opened at $9.54 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $9.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.17. New Mountain Finance has a twelve month low of $8.84 and a twelve month high of $12.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $984.15 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.68 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40.

New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.32. New Mountain Finance had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 20.84%.The business had revenue of $80.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $83.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.34 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that New Mountain Finance will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

New Mountain Finance Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 17th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.4%. New Mountain Finance’s payout ratio is 196.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Steven B. Klinsky purchased 106,691 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $9.78 per share, for a total transaction of $1,043,437.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 4,370,857 shares in the company, valued at $42,746,981.46. This represents a 2.50% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Adam B. Weinstein purchased 49,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $10.03 per share, with a total value of $498,992.50. Following the purchase, the executive vice president directly owned 652,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,544,474.70. The trade was a 8.25% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 11.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On New Mountain Finance

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. LSV Asset Management raised its position in New Mountain Finance by 14.3% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,764,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,488,000 after acquiring an additional 346,508 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of New Mountain Finance by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,589,798 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,966,000 after purchasing an additional 115,004 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of New Mountain Finance by 29.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,595,646 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,382,000 after purchasing an additional 363,443 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of New Mountain Finance by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,219,813 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,759,000 after purchasing an additional 190,152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimension Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in New Mountain Finance by 17.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimension Capital Management LLC now owns 950,072 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,023,000 after buying an additional 138,123 shares in the last quarter. 32.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

New Mountain Finance Company Profile

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.