GraniteShares Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in New Mountain Finance Corporation $NMFC

GraniteShares Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of New Mountain Finance Corporation (NASDAQ:NMFC) by 6.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 248,003 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,499 shares during the quarter. GraniteShares Advisors LLC’s holdings in New Mountain Finance were worth $2,616,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of New Mountain Finance by 240.4% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 7,488 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 5,288 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of New Mountain Finance by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 18,161 shares of the company’s stock worth $204,000 after purchasing an additional 2,664 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its stake in shares of New Mountain Finance by 179.7% in the fourth quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 40,292 shares of the company’s stock worth $454,000 after purchasing an additional 25,886 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in New Mountain Finance during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,359,000. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in New Mountain Finance by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 260,572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,874,000 after purchasing an additional 1,052 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 32.08% of the company’s stock.

New Mountain Finance Stock Down 0.7%

NMFC stock opened at $9.72 on Monday. New Mountain Finance Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $8.84 and a fifty-two week high of $12.09. The company has a market capitalization of $1.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.79 and a beta of 0.80. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $10.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.42.

New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32. New Mountain Finance had a return on equity of 10.43% and a net margin of 23.27%.The company had revenue of $83.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.36 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that New Mountain Finance Corporation will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

New Mountain Finance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.2%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. New Mountain Finance’s payout ratio is 168.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on NMFC shares. Oppenheimer set a $11.00 price objective on New Mountain Finance and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $10.00 price target (down previously from $11.75) on shares of New Mountain Finance in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $10.60.

Insider Transactions at New Mountain Finance

In other New Mountain Finance news, EVP Adam B. Weinstein purchased 49,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $10.03 per share, for a total transaction of $498,992.50. Following the purchase, the executive vice president directly owned 652,490 shares in the company, valued at $6,544,474.70. The trade was a 8.25% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Steven B. Klinsky purchased 106,691 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $9.78 per share, with a total value of $1,043,437.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,370,857 shares in the company, valued at $42,746,981.46. This trade represents a 2.50% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 157,191 shares of company stock worth $1,550,035 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.71% 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.