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

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

Insider Buying and Selling at New Mountain Finance

In other news, Director David Ogens acquired 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $11.44 per share, with a total value of $57,200.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 179,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,047,988.80. The trade was a 2.87 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 10.22% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NMFC. BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new position in New Mountain Finance in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Fox Run Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of New Mountain Finance in the fourth quarter valued at $114,000. MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of New Mountain Finance during the 4th quarter valued at $123,000. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of New Mountain Finance by 4,746.5% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 10,953 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,000 after acquiring an additional 10,727 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of New Mountain Finance during the 3rd quarter worth $129,000. 32.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

New Mountain Finance Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NMFC traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $10.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 173,974 shares, compared to its average volume of 427,814. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.46 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $11.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.59. New Mountain Finance has a 12-month low of $10.62 and a 12-month high of $12.81.

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). The business had revenue of $92.89 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.23 million. New Mountain Finance had a net margin of 30.28% and a return on equity of 11.25%. As a group, equities analysts predict that New Mountain Finance will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

New Mountain Finance Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. New Mountain Finance’s dividend payout ratio is 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.