Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Cuts Stake in New Mountain Finance Co. (NASDAQ:NMFC)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lowered its stake in shares of New Mountain Finance Co. (NASDAQ:NMFC) by 15.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 272,897 shares of the company’s stock after selling 49,924 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.’s holdings in New Mountain Finance were worth $3,471,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in New Mountain Finance by 1,157.0% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 426,352 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,423,000 after acquiring an additional 392,434 shares during the last quarter. GraniteShares Advisors LLC boosted its position in New Mountain Finance by 4.0% during the third quarter. GraniteShares Advisors LLC now owns 119,515 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,548,000 after acquiring an additional 4,585 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in New Mountain Finance by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,574,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,469,000 after acquiring an additional 91,379 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in New Mountain Finance by 1.9% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 2,828,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,626,000 after acquiring an additional 53,195 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mutual Advisors LLC boosted its position in New Mountain Finance by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 25,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $321,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. 32.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

New Mountain Finance Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NMFC opened at $12.70 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 2.92 and a quick ratio of 2.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.16 and a beta of 1.13. The company’s 50-day moving average is $12.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $12.72. New Mountain Finance Co. has a 1-year low of $11.38 and a 1-year high of $13.23.

New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $92.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.03 million. New Mountain Finance had a net margin of 36.13% and a return on equity of 11.93%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.35 EPS. Analysts forecast that New Mountain Finance Co. will post 1.53 EPS for the current year.

New Mountain Finance Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.34%. This is a positive change from New Mountain Finance’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. New Mountain Finance’s payout ratio is presently 102.40%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of New Mountain Finance from $12.00 to $12.50 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 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.