Short Interest in New Mountain Finance Co. (NASDAQ:NMFC) Drops By 28.9%

New Mountain Finance Co. (NASDAQ:NMFC) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 987,800 shares, a decrease of 28.9% from the February 13th total of 1,390,000 shares. Approximately 1.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 477,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Steven B. Klinsky purchased 72,280 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $11.28 per share, for a total transaction of $815,318.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,285,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,340,496.40. This trade represents a 1.72 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Ogens purchased 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $11.44 per share, for a total transaction of $57,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 179,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,047,988.80. This represents a 2.87 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 10.22% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of New Mountain Finance

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of NMFC. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in New Mountain Finance by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,823,925 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,811,000 after acquiring an additional 100,315 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of New Mountain Finance during the third quarter valued at approximately $375,000. Rockingstone Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 124,599 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of New Mountain Finance during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of New Mountain Finance by 7.6% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,376,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,438,000 after purchasing an additional 237,594 shares during the last quarter. 32.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

New Mountain Finance Price Performance

NASDAQ NMFC traded down $0.22 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $10.94. 555,003 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 426,549. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.59. New Mountain Finance has a 1 year low of $10.62 and a 1 year high of $12.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 2.23 and a quick ratio of 2.23. The company has a market cap of $1.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.42 and a beta of 1.16.

New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.01). New Mountain Finance had a net margin of 30.28% and a return on equity of 11.25%. The company had revenue of $92.89 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.23 million. On average, analysts predict that New Mountain Finance will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

New Mountain Finance Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.70%. New Mountain Finance’s payout ratio is presently 123.08%.

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.