New Mountain Finance Corporation (NASDAQ:NMFC) Stock Now Rated “Reduce” by Sell-Side Analysts

Shares of New Mountain Finance Corporation (NASDAQ:NMFC) have received a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the six research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $7.50.

NMFC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of New Mountain Finance from $7.50 to $7.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of New Mountain Finance from $9.00 to $8.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Weiss Ratings lowered New Mountain Finance from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating on shares of New Mountain Finance in a research report on Wednesday, November 4th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On New Mountain Finance

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NMFC. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in New Mountain Finance by 19.4% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,145,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,380,000 after buying an additional 348,872 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of New Mountain Finance by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,425,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,864,000 after purchasing an additional 42,332 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP increased its position in shares of New Mountain Finance by 29.2% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 1,125,657 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,071,000 after purchasing an additional 254,361 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in New Mountain Finance by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 437,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,030,000 after purchasing an additional 14,073 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GraniteShares Advisors LLC grew its stake in New Mountain Finance by 27.7% during the third quarter. GraniteShares Advisors LLC now owns 387,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,681,000 after buying an additional 84,083 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 32.08% of the company’s stock.

New Mountain Finance Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NMFC opened at $6.77 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $639.44 million, a P/E ratio of -12.54 and a beta of 0.58. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $6.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $7.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 3.86 and a quick ratio of 3.86. New Mountain Finance has a 1 year low of $6.47 and a 1 year high of $9.84.

New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 2nd. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26. The business had revenue of $60.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.07 million. New Mountain Finance had a positive return on equity of 10.71% and a negative net margin of 21.29%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 25.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. On average, analysts expect that New Mountain Finance will post 1.08 earnings per share for the current year.

New Mountain Finance Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 14.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 17th. New Mountain Finance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -185.19%.

About New Mountain Finance

New Mountain Finance Corporation is a business development company that provides financing to U.S. middle-market businesses. It is externally managed by an affiliate of New Mountain Capital, an alternative investment manager. The company primarily invests in senior secured loans, along with other debt investments and, in some cases, equity securities. Its financing supports businesses across a range of industries and may be used for purposes such as growth, acquisitions, refinancing, or ownership changes.