Muzinich & Co. Inc. Has $4.15 Million Position in New Mountain Finance Co. (NASDAQ:NMFC)

Muzinich & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in New Mountain Finance Co. (NASDAQ:NMFC) by 6.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 346,118 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,827 shares during the period. New Mountain Finance comprises 2.9% of Muzinich & Co. Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Muzinich & Co. Inc.’s holdings in New Mountain Finance were worth $4,146,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NMFC. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in New Mountain Finance in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Quarry LP grew its stake in shares of New Mountain Finance by 68.3% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,307 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 1,342 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of New Mountain Finance in the first quarter worth $52,000. Clearstead Trust LLC acquired a new position in New Mountain Finance during the 2nd quarter valued at $98,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in New Mountain Finance during the 1st quarter valued at $126,000. Institutional investors own 32.08% of the company’s stock.

New Mountain Finance Trading Up 0.3 %

New Mountain Finance stock opened at $11.53 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $11.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $12.13. 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 12 month low of $10.61 and a 12 month high of $13.23. The stock has a market cap of $1.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.98 and a beta of 1.15.

New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $95.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.10 million. New Mountain Finance had a return on equity of 11.25% and a net margin of 30.28%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that New Mountain Finance Co. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

New Mountain Finance Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a $0.33 dividend. This is a positive change from New Mountain Finance’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.45%. New Mountain Finance’s payout ratio is currently 121.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Buying and Selling at New Mountain Finance

In other news, CEO John Kline purchased 41,550 shares of New Mountain Finance stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $10.92 per share, for a total transaction of $453,726.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 351,783 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,841,470.36. This represents a 13.39 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Steven B. Klinsky acquired 150,609 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 acquisition, the director now owns 3,632,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,483,383.62. This represents a 4.33 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 10.22% 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.