Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Lowers New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) Price Target to $10.00

New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) had its price objective lowered by investment analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $11.00 to $10.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “market perform” rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 3.84% from the stock’s current price.

NMFC has been the subject of several other reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of New Mountain Finance in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer set a $11.00 price target on shares of New Mountain Finance and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of New Mountain Finance from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. New Street Research set a $10.00 price target on shares of New Mountain Finance in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $10.00 price objective (down from $11.75) on shares of New Mountain Finance in a report on Monday, September 15th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $10.33.

New Mountain Finance Price Performance

NMFC stock opened at $9.63 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $9.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $10.24. The company has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.82 and a beta of 0.77. New Mountain Finance has a 52-week low of $8.84 and a 52-week high of $12.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.42.

New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.32. New Mountain Finance had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 10.27%. The firm had revenue of $80.53 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $83.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.34 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that New Mountain Finance will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at New Mountain Finance

In other New Mountain Finance news, Director Steven B. Klinsky acquired 106,691 shares of New Mountain Finance stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $9.78 per share, for a total transaction of $1,043,437.98. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 4,370,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,746,981.46. This represents a 2.50% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Adam B. Weinstein purchased 49,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $10.03 per share, for a total transaction of $498,992.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the executive vice president owned 652,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,544,474.70. The trade was a 8.25% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have bought 157,191 shares of company stock valued at $1,550,035 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MTM Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in New Mountain Finance during the second quarter worth about $38,000. Huntington National Bank boosted its holdings in New Mountain Finance by 311.8% during the second quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 4,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 3,433 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue purchased a new position in New Mountain Finance during the third quarter worth about $47,000. MAI Capital Management boosted its holdings in New Mountain Finance by 44.9% during the first quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 7,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 2,261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its holdings in New Mountain Finance by 360.7% during the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 8,095 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 6,338 shares during the last quarter. 32.08% of the stock is currently 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.