New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) Now Covered by Analysts at B. Riley

B. Riley started coverage on shares of New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) in a research note published on Tuesday. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $11.00 price target on the stock.

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

New Mountain Finance Stock Up 0.7%

NMFC opened at $10.76 on Tuesday. New Mountain Finance has a fifty-two week low of $8.84 and a fifty-two week high of $12.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.23. The company has a fifty day moving average of $10.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.25 and a beta of 0.85.

New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32. New Mountain Finance had a net margin of 30.28% and a return on equity of 11.25%. The company had revenue of $85.66 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.65 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that New Mountain Finance will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

New Mountain Finance Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. New Mountain Finance’s dividend payout ratio is currently 128.00%.

Insider Transactions at New Mountain Finance

In other New Mountain Finance news, Director David Ogens purchased 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $11.44 per share, with a total value of $57,200.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 179,020 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,047,988.80. This represents a 2.87% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 11.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On New Mountain Finance

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of New Mountain Finance by 14.3% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,764,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,488,000 after buying an additional 346,508 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in New Mountain Finance by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,342,650 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,378,000 after purchasing an additional 93,329 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in New Mountain Finance by 10.7% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,091,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,039,000 after purchasing an additional 105,559 shares during the period. Ares Management LLC raised its stake in New Mountain Finance by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. Ares Management LLC now owns 566,186 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,375,000 after purchasing an additional 74,492 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in New Mountain Finance by 102.2% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 519,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,850,000 after purchasing an additional 262,631 shares during the period. 32.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.