Steven B. Klinsky Purchases 72,280 Shares of New Mountain Finance Co. (NASDAQ:NMFC) Stock

New Mountain Finance Co. (NASDAQ:NMFC) Director Steven B. Klinsky bought 72,280 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were bought at an average price of $11.28 per share, for a total transaction of $815,318.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 4,285,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,340,496.40. This trade represents a 1.72 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

New Mountain Finance Stock Performance

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

New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $95.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.10 million. New Mountain Finance had a net margin of 30.28% and a return on equity of 11.25%. The company’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.40 EPS. Equities analysts predict that New Mountain Finance Co. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

New Mountain Finance Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.71%. This is an increase from New Mountain Finance’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. New Mountain Finance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 121.91%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On New Mountain Finance

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new position in shares of New Mountain Finance in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,608,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in New Mountain Finance during the third quarter valued at approximately $168,000. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in New Mountain Finance in the third quarter valued at approximately $375,000. Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in New Mountain Finance by 5.3% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 47,138 shares of the company’s stock valued at $565,000 after purchasing an additional 2,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of New Mountain Finance by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,376,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,438,000 after purchasing an additional 237,594 shares during the last quarter. 32.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective 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 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.