Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Sells 49,924 Shares of New Mountain Finance Co. (NASDAQ:NMFC)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. decreased its holdings in New Mountain Finance Co. (NASDAQ:NMFC) by 15.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 272,897 shares of the company’s stock after selling 49,924 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned 0.27% of New Mountain Finance worth $3,471,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of New Mountain Finance by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,574,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,469,000 after acquiring an additional 91,379 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in New Mountain Finance by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 2,828,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,626,000 after purchasing an additional 53,195 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in New Mountain Finance by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,405,785 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,205,000 after purchasing an additional 85,873 shares during the period. Dimension Capital Management LLC raised its position in New Mountain Finance by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Dimension Capital Management LLC now owns 1,210,723 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,679,000 after purchasing an additional 18,871 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in New Mountain Finance by 1,157.0% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 426,352 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,423,000 after purchasing an additional 392,434 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 32.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of New Mountain Finance from $12.00 to $12.50 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th.

New Mountain Finance Stock Performance

New Mountain Finance stock opened at $12.70 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 2.92 and a quick ratio of 2.92. New Mountain Finance Co. has a 1-year low of $11.38 and a 1-year high of $13.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.16 and a beta of 1.13. The company’s 50-day moving average is $12.60 and its 200 day moving average is $12.72.

New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $92.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.03 million. New Mountain Finance had a net margin of 36.13% and a return on equity of 11.93%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that New Mountain Finance Co. will post 1.53 EPS for the current year.

New Mountain Finance Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from New Mountain Finance’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.34%. New Mountain Finance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 102.40%.

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.