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

New Mountain Finance Corporation (NASDAQ:NMFC)’s stock 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on NMFC shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of New Mountain Finance in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $10.00 target price (down from $11.75) on shares of New Mountain Finance in a report on Monday, September 15th. New Street Research set a $10.00 price target on shares of New Mountain Finance in a research report on Friday, October 10th. B. Riley reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $10.00 target price (down previously from $11.00) on shares of New Mountain Finance in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded New Mountain Finance from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $10.17.

New Mountain Finance Trading Down 4.1%

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.99. The firm has a market cap of $947.52 million, a PE ratio of 14.11 and a beta of 0.57.

New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32. The firm had revenue of $80.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarterly revenue was down 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.34 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that New Mountain Finance Corporation will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

New Mountain Finance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 13.9%. New Mountain Finance’s dividend payout ratio is currently 196.92%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in New Mountain Finance by 4.6% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,589,798 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,966,000 after acquiring an additional 115,004 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of New Mountain Finance by 29.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,595,646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,382,000 after buying an additional 363,443 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in New Mountain Finance by 18.5% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,219,813 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,759,000 after acquiring an additional 190,152 shares during the period. Dimension Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in New Mountain Finance by 17.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimension Capital Management LLC now owns 950,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,023,000 after acquiring an additional 138,123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Transcend Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in New Mountain Finance by 68.5% during the second quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 714,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,534,000 after acquiring an additional 290,320 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 32.08% of the company’s stock.

New Mountain Finance Company Profile

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.