Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) Trading Down 6.3% – Time to Sell?

Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE:NAT)’s stock price fell 6.3% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $5.52 and last traded at $5.4550. 1,301,011 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 4,469,071 shares. The stock had previously closed at $5.82.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on NAT. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Nordic American Tankers in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Evercore lowered shares of Nordic American Tankers from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $4.50 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Nordic American Tankers from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nordic American Tankers has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $4.00.

Nordic American Tankers Stock Down 4.6%

The company has a fifty day moving average of $5.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $4.32. The company has a market cap of $1.18 billion, a PE ratio of 79.37 and a beta of -0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 2.24.

Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The shipping company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.03). Nordic American Tankers had a return on equity of 2.47% and a net margin of 6.39%.The business had revenue of $58.76 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $69.43 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Nordic American Tankers Limited will post 0.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nordic American Tankers Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.2%. This is a boost from Nordic American Tankers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. Nordic American Tankers’s payout ratio is presently 971.43%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nordic American Tankers

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Nordic American Tankers by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,729,256 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $40,348,000 after acquiring an additional 354,013 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Nordic American Tankers by 25.2% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,260,627 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $16,518,000 after acquiring an additional 1,057,232 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in Nordic American Tankers by 7.8% during the third quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 5,124,150 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $16,090,000 after acquiring an additional 369,462 shares in the last quarter. CenterBook Partners LP raised its position in Nordic American Tankers by 110.1% during the fourth quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 3,700,409 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $12,729,000 after acquiring an additional 1,939,211 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its position in Nordic American Tankers by 108.3% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,429,423 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $7,628,000 after acquiring an additional 1,263,228 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 44.29% of the company’s stock.

Nordic American Tankers Company Profile

Nordic American Tankers Limited is a Bermuda-based shipping company specializing in the ownership and operation of Suezmax crude oil tankers. The company’s fleet is employed on the spot and period charter markets, transporting crude oil across major global trade routes. By focusing on commercially flexible employment strategies, Nordic American Tankers seeks to optimize vessel utilization and generate stable income for shareholders.

Founded in 1995 and headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda, Nordic American Tankers maintains technical and commercial management arrangements through established ship-management partners.