New Mountain Finance's (NMFC) Hold (C-) Rating Reaffirmed at Weiss Ratings

Key Points

• New Mountain Finance's stock has been reaffirmed with a "hold (C-)" rating by Weiss Ratings, indicating market analysts' ongoing cautious view of the company.
• Multiple analysts have set price targets for NMFC, with Oppenheimer at $11.00 and Bank of America reducing it to $10.00, highlighting a declining outlook for the company's stock performance.
• Recent insider trading saw EVP Adam B. Weinstein purchase 49,750 shares at an average price of $10.03, suggesting some level of confidence from executives in the company's stock value.

New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold (c-)" rating restated by research analysts at Weiss Ratings in a note issued to investors on Saturday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on NMFC. Oppenheimer set a $11.00 price target on shares of New Mountain Finance and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of New Mountain Finance from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. New Street Research set a $10.00 price target on shares of New Mountain Finance in a report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated an "underperform" rating and issued a $10.00 price target (down previously from $11.75) on shares of New Mountain Finance in a report on Monday, September 15th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $10.50.

New Mountain Finance Stock Performance

Shares of New Mountain Finance stock opened at $9.57 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.59 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $9.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.22. New Mountain Finance has a 52 week low of $8.84 and a 52 week high of $12.05.

New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.32. New Mountain Finance had a net margin of 23.27% and a return on equity of 10.43%. The firm had revenue of $83.49 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.57 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.36 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that New Mountain Finance will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Adam B. Weinstein purchased 49,750 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $10.03 per share, with a total value of $498,992.50. Following the purchase, the executive vice president owned 652,490 shares of the company's stock, 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 is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Steven B. Klinsky purchased 106,691 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $9.78 per share, for a total transaction of $1,043,437.98. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 4,370,857 shares in the company, valued at $42,746,981.46. This trade represents a 2.50% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 157,191 shares of company stock worth $1,550,035 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.71% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On New Mountain Finance

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. LSV Asset Management grew its stake in New Mountain Finance by 14.3% in the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,764,111 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,488,000 after acquiring an additional 346,508 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in New Mountain Finance by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,091,476 shares of the company's stock valued at $12,039,000 after acquiring an additional 105,559 shares during the period. Dimension Capital Management LLC grew its stake in New Mountain Finance by 17.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimension Capital Management LLC now owns 950,072 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,023,000 after acquiring an additional 138,123 shares during the period. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in New Mountain Finance by 68.5% during the 2nd quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 714,104 shares of the company's stock worth $7,534,000 after purchasing an additional 290,320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in New Mountain Finance by 36.9% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 711,050 shares of the company's stock worth $7,843,000 after purchasing an additional 191,518 shares during the last quarter. 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.

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