New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

New Mountain Finance Corporation (NASDAQ:NMFC) gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $7.22, but opened at $6.93. New Mountain Finance shares last traded at $6.9840, with a volume of 40,556 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NMFC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of New Mountain Finance in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on New Mountain Finance from $9.00 to $8.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on New Mountain Finance from $8.00 to $7.50 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $8.25.

New Mountain Finance Trading Down 3.0%

The stock has a market capitalization of $661.62 million, a P/E ratio of -14.93 and a beta of 0.57. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $7.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $7.67. The company has a quick ratio of 3.66, a current ratio of 3.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

New Mountain Finance (NASDAQ:NMFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26. The company had revenue of $39.02 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.78 million. New Mountain Finance had a negative net margin of 16.78% and a positive return on equity of 10.94%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that New Mountain Finance Corporation will post 1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

New Mountain Finance Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 16th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 14.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 16th. New Mountain Finance’s payout ratio is presently -212.77%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On New Mountain Finance

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NMFC. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new stake in New Mountain Finance during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. State of Wyoming purchased a new position in New Mountain Finance in the first quarter valued at about $71,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in New Mountain Finance in the first quarter worth about $93,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in New Mountain Finance in the first quarter worth about $122,000. Finally, Calton & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of New Mountain Finance during the fourth quarter valued at about $125,000. 32.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About New Mountain Finance

New Mountain Finance Corporation (NASDAQ: NMFC) is a business development company that provides financing to middle-market businesses. The company invests primarily in debt securities, including senior secured loans, unitranche loans and subordinated debt, and may also make equity investments. Its investments are generally structured to support acquisitions, recapitalizations, refinancings, growth initiatives and other corporate activities.

New Mountain Finance focuses on companies operating in defensive growth industries, such as business services, healthcare, software and technology, and other sectors it believes have resilient demand and favorable long-term trends.