Sanders Morris Harris LLC Sells 1,000 Shares of New Mountain Finance Co. (NASDAQ:NMFC)

Sanders Morris Harris LLC decreased its stake in shares of New Mountain Finance Co. (NASDAQ:NMFC) by 5.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,375 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. Sanders Morris Harris LLC’s holdings in New Mountain Finance were worth $206,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new position in New Mountain Finance in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Quarry LP raised its position 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 buying an additional 1,342 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of New Mountain Finance in the third quarter worth $129,000. Centiva Capital LP bought a new stake in New Mountain Finance during the third quarter valued at $130,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of New Mountain Finance in the 3rd quarter valued at about $168,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 32.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of 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 Price Performance

Shares of NMFC stock traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $11.13. 9,804 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 358,097. New Mountain Finance Co. has a 12-month low of $10.61 and a 12-month high of $13.10. The company has a market capitalization of $1.20 billion, a PE ratio of 10.60 and a beta of 1.15. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $11.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.82. The company has a current ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46.

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

New Mountain Finance Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This is a boost from New Mountain Finance’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.86%. New Mountain Finance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 121.91%.

Insider Activity at New Mountain Finance

In other news, CEO John Kline purchased 41,550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were bought 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 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Steven B. Klinsky purchased 72,280 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $11.28 per share, with a total value of $815,318.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,285,505 shares in the company, valued at $48,340,496.40. This trade represents a 1.72 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 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.

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.