New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) Hits New 52-Week Low – What’s Next?

New Mountain Finance Co. (NASDAQ:NMFC) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $11.60 and last traded at $11.62, with a volume of 99236 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $11.67.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of New Mountain Finance from $12.50 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd.

New Mountain Finance Stock Up 0.7 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.51 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $12.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $12.30.

New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36. The firm had revenue of $94.59 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.25 million. New Mountain Finance had a net margin of 31.65% and a return on equity of 11.60%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that New Mountain Finance Co. will post 1.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

New Mountain Finance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.97%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. New Mountain Finance’s payout ratio is 115.32%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On New Mountain Finance

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its stake in New Mountain Finance by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 34,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $411,000 after purchasing an additional 5,668 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in New Mountain Finance in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $404,000. Quarry LP boosted its stake in New Mountain Finance by 68.3% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,307 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 1,342 shares during the period. Creative Planning boosted its stake in New Mountain Finance by 107.4% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 26,455 shares of the company’s stock worth $324,000 after purchasing an additional 13,702 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in New Mountain Finance by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 456,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,591,000 after purchasing an additional 23,406 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 32.08% of the company’s stock.

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.