Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Acquires 60,732 Shares of New Mountain Finance Co. (NASDAQ:NMFC)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of New Mountain Finance Co. (NASDAQ:NMFC) by 31.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 254,181 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 60,732 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in New Mountain Finance were worth $2,862,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of New Mountain Finance by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,823,925 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,811,000 after buying an additional 100,315 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in New Mountain Finance by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,376,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,438,000 after acquiring an additional 237,594 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in New Mountain Finance by 8.1% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,249,321 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,980,000 after acquiring an additional 168,719 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of New Mountain Finance by 1.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,258,842 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,081,000 after acquiring an additional 15,988 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of New Mountain Finance by 5.4% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 456,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,591,000 after purchasing an additional 23,406 shares during the last quarter. 32.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO John Kline acquired 41,550 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $10.92 per share, with a total value of $453,726.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 351,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,841,470.36. This trade represents a 13.39 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Steven B. Klinsky acquired 150,609 shares of New Mountain Finance stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $10.87 per share, for a total transaction of $1,637,119.83. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased a total of 324,530 shares of company stock worth $3,603,675 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 10.34% of the company’s stock.

New Mountain Finance Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of New Mountain Finance stock opened at $11.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.23. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $11.45 and a 200-day moving average of $11.81. New Mountain Finance Co. has a 52-week low of $10.61 and a 52-week high of $13.10. The stock has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a PE ratio of 10.69 and a beta of 1.15.

New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.01). New Mountain Finance had a net margin of 30.28% and a return on equity of 11.25%. The business had revenue of $95.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.10 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.40 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side 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 was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.76%. This is an increase from New Mountain Finance’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. New Mountain Finance’s dividend payout ratio is currently 121.91%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

New Mountain Finance Company 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.