New Mountain Finance Corporation $NMFC Shares Bought by Muzinich & Co. Inc.

Muzinich & Co. Inc. increased its stake in New Mountain Finance Corporation (NASDAQ:NMFC) by 16.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 671,056 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 95,582 shares during the quarter. New Mountain Finance comprises about 2.5% of Muzinich & Co. Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Muzinich & Co. Inc.’s holdings in New Mountain Finance were worth $6,469,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NMFC. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ acquired a new stake in shares of New Mountain Finance in the first quarter valued at $361,000. Trexquant Investment LP increased its stake in shares of New Mountain Finance by 75.3% in the first quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 291,634 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,217,000 after acquiring an additional 125,230 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its stake in shares of New Mountain Finance by 360.7% in the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 8,095 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 6,338 shares during the last quarter. MAI Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in New Mountain Finance by 8.4% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 248,327 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,739,000 after purchasing an additional 19,243 shares in the last quarter. 32.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on NMFC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of New Mountain Finance from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. B. Riley reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $10.00 price objective (down previously from $11.00) on shares of New Mountain Finance in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. New Street Research set a $10.00 price objective on shares of New Mountain Finance in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Zacks Research raised New Mountain Finance from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $10.00 price objective (down from $11.75) on shares of New Mountain Finance in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $10.17.

New Mountain Finance Stock Performance

Shares of NMFC stock opened at $9.15 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.96. The firm has a market cap of $943.91 million, a PE ratio of 14.08 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. New Mountain Finance Corporation has a 12 month low of $8.84 and a 12 month high of $12.05.

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

New Mountain Finance Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 17th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 17th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 14.0%. New Mountain Finance’s dividend payout ratio is 196.92%.

New Mountain Finance Profile

New Mountain Finance Corp. is a closed-end, externally managed business development company (BDC) that provides customized debt and equity capital solutions to U.S. middle-market companies. As a BDC organized under the Investment Company Act of 1940, New Mountain Finance invests in sponsor-backed and founder-led businesses that span a range of industry sectors, with a focus on companies demonstrating resilient growth and recurring revenue streams.

The company’s investment portfolio typically includes first-lien senior secured loans, second-lien and junior debt instruments, mezzanine financing and equity co-investments.