Nationstar Mortgage (NSM) IPO Debuts Today

Nationstar Mortgage (NYSE: NSM) went public today, becoming the third IPO in March.

One of the leading non-bank residential mortgage loan servicers in the U.S., Nationstar raised $233 million by offering 16.7 million shares at $14 a pop. The $14 share price is lower than the $17 to $19 range the company was striving for in its initial public offering.

Unlike some of the social media companies that have been going public recently, Nationstar is profitable. The company made a profit of nearly $21 million last year. However, that was a vast improvement from the previous four years, when it lost a combined half a billion dollars.

Nationstar is 80% owned by Fortress Investment Group (NYSE: FIG). That stock is up slightly in early trading today.

Local business reviews website Yelp (NYSE: YELP) and Select Income REIT (NYSE: SIR) were the other two companies to IPO so far this month. Andina Acquisition Corp (Nasdaq: ANDAU), a company that specializing in acquiring businesses in Colombia, is up next. Its IPO could hit the market as early as tomorrow.

Three more IPOs are scheduled for next week – a sign that the IPO market is picking right where it left off last month. February was the busiest month for IPOs since May 2011, with 18 companies going public. The average return among IPOs in February was 21.4%.