New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

New Mountain Finance Corporation (NASDAQ:NMFC)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $9.58, but opened at $9.26. New Mountain Finance shares last traded at $9.1660, with a volume of 350,873 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on NMFC shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of New Mountain Finance in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $10.00 target price (down previously from $11.75) on shares of New Mountain Finance in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Zacks Research upgraded New Mountain Finance from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 24th. New Street Research set a $10.00 price objective on New Mountain Finance in a report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of New Mountain Finance from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $10.17.

New Mountain Finance Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $9.50 and a 200 day moving average of $10.06. The stock has a market cap of $947.52 million, a PE ratio of 14.11 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 (NASDAQ:NMFC) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32. New Mountain Finance had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 20.84%.The business had revenue of $80.53 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $83.91 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.34 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that New Mountain Finance Corporation will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

New Mountain Finance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 13.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 17th. New Mountain Finance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 196.92%.

Institutional Trading of New Mountain Finance

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of New Mountain Finance by 94.9% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 24,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 11,754 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC grew its position in New Mountain Finance by 5.3% in the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 184,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,030,000 after acquiring an additional 9,260 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased 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 acquiring an additional 105,559 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. purchased a new stake in New Mountain Finance in the first quarter valued at $581,000. Finally, Fox Run Management L.L.C. raised its position in New Mountain Finance by 297.0% in the first quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 40,117 shares of the company’s stock valued at $442,000 after purchasing an additional 30,011 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 32.08% of the company’s stock.

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.