BNP Paribas Financial Markets Takes Position in New Mountain Finance Co. (NASDAQ:NMFC)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new position in New Mountain Finance Co. (NASDAQ:NMFC) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of NMFC. Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of New Mountain Finance by 68.3% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,307 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 1,342 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in New Mountain Finance by 14.3% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 14,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $182,000 after purchasing an additional 1,860 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of New Mountain Finance by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 325,365 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,898,000 after buying an additional 2,389 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR increased its stake in New Mountain Finance by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 25,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $305,000 after buying an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Finally, Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of New Mountain Finance by 9.1% in the second quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 30,742 shares of the company’s stock worth $376,000 after acquiring an additional 2,571 shares in the last quarter. 32.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other New Mountain Finance news, CEO John Kline bought 41,550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $10.92 per share, for a total transaction of $453,726.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 351,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,841,470.36. The trade was a 13.39 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Steven B. Klinsky purchased 6,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $11.75 per share, with a total value of $72,850.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 4,122,655 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,441,196.25. The trade was a 0.15 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 324,530 shares of company stock worth $3,603,675. Company insiders own 10.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of New Mountain Finance from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 29th.

New Mountain Finance Stock Performance

Shares of NMFC opened at $11.27 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $11.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.97. The company has a market capitalization of $1.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.73 and a beta of 1.15. New Mountain Finance Co. has a 52-week low of $10.61 and a 52-week high of $13.10.

New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $95.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.10 million. New Mountain Finance had a net margin of 30.28% and a return on equity of 11.25%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.40 EPS. Research analysts predict that New Mountain Finance Co. will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

New Mountain Finance Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.71%. This is a positive change from New Mountain Finance’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. New Mountain Finance’s payout ratio is 121.91%.

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.