Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Buys Shares of 63,777 KNOT Offshore Partners LP $KNOP

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new stake in shares of KNOT Offshore Partners LP (NYSE:KNOP) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 63,777 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $643,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of KNOT Offshore Partners by 115.0% in the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 9,042 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 4,836 shares during the period. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP purchased a new position in KNOT Offshore Partners in the second quarter valued at approximately $68,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in KNOT Offshore Partners by 220.3% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 16,557 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $104,000 after purchasing an additional 11,388 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers bought a new position in KNOT Offshore Partners during the fourth quarter valued at $125,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in KNOT Offshore Partners in the fourth quarter worth $138,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Zacks Research lowered KNOT Offshore Partners from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded KNOT Offshore Partners from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 28th. Weiss Ratings lowered KNOT Offshore Partners from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Fearnley Fonds upgraded KNOT Offshore Partners from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Finally, B. Riley Financial raised shares of KNOT Offshore Partners from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $14.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.00.

KNOT Offshore Partners Stock Down 0.4%

KNOP opened at $10.72 on Wednesday. KNOT Offshore Partners LP has a 12 month low of $6.76 and a 12 month high of $11.78. The company has a market cap of $360.73 million, a PE ratio of 19.85 and a beta of -0.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The company has a 50 day moving average of $10.71 and a 200 day moving average of $10.50.

KNOT Offshore Partners (NYSE:KNOP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The shipping company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $92.01 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.35 million. KNOT Offshore Partners had a net margin of 4.92% and a return on equity of 6.36%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that KNOT Offshore Partners LP will post 0.09 EPS for the current year.

KNOT Offshore Partners Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 27th will be issued a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 27th. This is an increase from KNOT Offshore Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. KNOT Offshore Partners’s payout ratio is currently 37.04%.

Insider Activity

In other KNOT Offshore Partners news, Director Trygve Seglem acquired 1,250,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was bought at an average price of $20.00 per share, with a total value of $25,000,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 1,458,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,166,660. This represents a 600.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

KNOT Offshore Partners Profile

KNOT Offshore Partners LP is a publicly traded limited partnership formed in 2013 to own and operate shuttle tankers under long?term charters in the offshore oil industry. Listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol KNOP, the partnership specializes in the transportation of crude oil from offshore production facilities to onshore refineries. Its fleet comprises moderne shuttle tankers equipped with dynamic positioning systems, enabling safe transfer operations in harsh weather and sea conditions.

The partnership’s vessels primarily serve fields in the North Sea, Brazil and West Africa, where they operate under multi?year contracts with major energy producers.