JPMorgan Chase & Co. Buys 15,988 Shares of New Mountain Finance Co. (NASDAQ:NMFC)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of New Mountain Finance Co. (NASDAQ:NMFC) by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,258,842 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,988 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in New Mountain Finance were worth $15,081,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of New Mountain Finance by 78.5% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 314,058 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,839,000 after purchasing an additional 138,157 shares in the last quarter. Condor Capital Management lifted its holdings in New Mountain Finance by 28.2% during the second quarter. Condor Capital Management now owns 348,406 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,264,000 after acquiring an additional 76,739 shares in the last quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC bought a new position in New Mountain Finance during the second quarter worth about $98,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in New Mountain Finance by 18.4% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 85,708 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,049,000 after acquiring an additional 13,344 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of New Mountain Finance by 14.3% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 14,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $182,000 after acquiring an additional 1,860 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 32.08% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at New Mountain Finance

In other news, Director Steven B. Klinsky purchased 150,609 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $10.87 per share, with a total value of $1,637,119.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,632,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,483,383.62. The trade was a 4.33 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO John Kline purchased 41,550 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $10.92 per share, for a total transaction of $453,726.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 351,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,841,470.36. The trade was a 13.39 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have bought 324,530 shares of company stock valued at $3,603,675. 10.22% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on New Mountain Finance from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 29th.

New Mountain Finance Stock Down 1.0 %

New Mountain Finance stock opened at $10.89 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $11.43 and a 200-day moving average of $11.84. The company has a quick ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. New Mountain Finance Co. has a twelve month low of $10.61 and a twelve month high of $13.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.17 billion, a PE ratio of 10.37 and a beta of 1.15.

New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.01). New Mountain Finance had a return on equity of 11.25% and a net margin of 30.28%. The company had revenue of $95.33 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.10 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. New Mountain Finance’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that New Mountain Finance Co. will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

New Mountain Finance Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This is an increase from New Mountain Finance’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.12%. New Mountain Finance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 121.90%.

New Mountain Finance 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.