Van ECK Associates Corp Purchases 168,719 Shares of New Mountain Finance Co. (NASDAQ:NMFC)

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of New Mountain Finance Co. (NASDAQ:NMFC) by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,249,321 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 168,719 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in New Mountain Finance were worth $25,980,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of New Mountain Finance in the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,000. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in New Mountain Finance by 68.3% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,307 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 1,342 shares during the period. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in New Mountain Finance during the 1st quarter valued at $52,000. Clearstead Trust LLC purchased a new position in shares of New Mountain Finance in the 2nd quarter valued at $98,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of New Mountain Finance in the 1st quarter worth $126,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 32.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

New Mountain Finance Stock Down 2.7 %

NASDAQ:NMFC opened at $10.80 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $11.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.23. New Mountain Finance Co. has a fifty-two week low of $10.76 and a fifty-two week high of $13.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.29 and a beta of 1.15.

New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.01). New Mountain Finance had a return on equity of 11.25% and a net margin of 30.28%. The firm had revenue of $95.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.10 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. New Mountain Finance’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that New Mountain Finance Co. will post 1.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

New Mountain Finance Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.22%. This is an increase from New Mountain Finance’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. New Mountain Finance’s dividend payout ratio is 121.91%.

New Mountain Finance 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.