Cerity Partners LLC Increases Holdings in New Mountain Finance Co. (NASDAQ:NMFC)

Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of New Mountain Finance Co. (NASDAQ:NMFC) by 2.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,823,925 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 100,315 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC owned about 3.55% of New Mountain Finance worth $45,811,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its position in New Mountain Finance by 16.5% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 311,201 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,809,000 after acquiring an additional 44,114 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in New Mountain Finance by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,249,321 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,980,000 after acquiring an additional 168,719 shares in the last quarter. Condor Capital Management boosted its position in New Mountain Finance by 28.2% during the 2nd quarter. Condor Capital Management now owns 348,406 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,264,000 after acquiring an additional 76,739 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in New Mountain Finance by 54.2% during the 3rd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 193,449 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,318,000 after acquiring an additional 67,990 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First National Trust Co boosted its position in New Mountain Finance by 101.1% during the 3rd quarter. First National Trust Co now owns 160,005 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,917,000 after acquiring an additional 80,451 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 32.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company cut 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.

Insider Transactions at New Mountain Finance

In other New Mountain Finance news, CEO John Kline acquired 41,550 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $10.92 per share, with a total value of $453,726.00. Following the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Steven B. Klinsky acquired 34,867 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $11.51 per share, for a total transaction of $401,319.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,056,324 shares in the company, valued at $46,688,289.24. This represents a 0.87 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased a total of 227,026 shares of company stock valued at $2,492,165 in the last ninety days. 10.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

New Mountain Finance Stock Performance

Shares of NMFC opened at $11.76 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $11.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.09. New Mountain Finance Co. has a 52 week low of $10.61 and a 52 week high of $13.23. The stock has a market cap of $1.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.20 and a beta of 1.15.

New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $95.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.10 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that New Mountain Finance Co. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

New Mountain Finance Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a $0.33 dividend. This is a boost from New Mountain Finance’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. New Mountain Finance’s payout ratio is currently 121.91%.

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.