Raymond James Financial Inc. Makes New Investment in New Mountain Finance Co. (NASDAQ:NMFC)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of New Mountain Finance Co. (NASDAQ:NMFC) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 83,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $944,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.08% of New Mountain Finance as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in NMFC. Jane Street Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of New Mountain Finance during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $375,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of New Mountain Finance during the third quarter valued at approximately $168,000. Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new stake in New Mountain Finance in the third quarter worth $2,608,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in New Mountain Finance by 1.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,258,842 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,081,000 after purchasing an additional 15,988 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rockingstone Advisors LLC lifted its position in New Mountain Finance by 79.1% during the fourth quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC now owns 282,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,177,000 after buying an additional 124,599 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 32.08% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at New Mountain Finance

In other New Mountain Finance news, Director David Ogens acquired 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was bought at an average price of $11.44 per share, for a total transaction of $57,200.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 179,020 shares in the company, valued at $2,047,988.80. The trade was a 2.87 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 11.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on NMFC shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on New Mountain Finance from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on New Mountain Finance from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th.

New Mountain Finance Stock Performance

NMFC opened at $9.76 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $10.46 and its 200 day moving average is $11.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. The company has a market cap of $1.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.30 and a beta of 0.85. New Mountain Finance Co. has a 12-month low of $8.84 and a 12-month high of $12.78.

New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.32. The business had revenue of $85.66 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.65 million. New Mountain Finance had a net margin of 30.28% and a return on equity of 11.25%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that New Mountain Finance Co. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

New Mountain Finance Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.11%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. New Mountain Finance’s dividend payout ratio is 123.08%.

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.