NuStar Energy (NYSE:NS) Now Covered by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of NuStar Energy (NYSE:NS) in a report issued on Monday. The brokerage issued a buy rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

NS has been the topic of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised NuStar Energy from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and upped their price target for the company from $18.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Raymond James reissued a market perform rating on shares of NuStar Energy in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a hold rating and issued a $23.00 target price (up previously from $20.00) on shares of NuStar Energy in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an underweight rating and issued a $19.00 target price on shares of NuStar Energy in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NuStar Energy presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $19.33.

NuStar Energy Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NS opened at $22.94 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.76. NuStar Energy has a 12-month low of $14.70 and a 12-month high of $24.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.90 billion, a PE ratio of 32.31 and a beta of 1.70. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $20.47.

NuStar Energy (NYSE:NS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The pipeline company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.11. NuStar Energy had a return on equity of 107.61% and a net margin of 16.75%. The business had revenue of $451.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.69 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.34 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that NuStar Energy will post 1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

NuStar Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a None dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th will be given a dividend of $0.212 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 25th. NuStar Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 225.35%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NuStar Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NS. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of NuStar Energy by 30.0% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 19,865,418 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $346,453,000 after purchasing an additional 4,586,344 shares during the period. Blackstone Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NuStar Energy by 319.6% during the third quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 2,316,768 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $40,404,000 after buying an additional 1,764,573 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Global Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of NuStar Energy during the third quarter worth about $19,941,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of NuStar Energy by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,112,629 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $114,184,000 after buying an additional 1,086,994 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of NuStar Energy by 47.4% during the third quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,149,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $37,490,000 after buying an additional 691,604 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.13% of the company’s stock.

About NuStar Energy

NuStar Energy L.P. engages in the transportation, terminalling, and storage of petroleum products and renewable fuels, and transportation of anhydrous ammonia in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Pipeline, Storage, and Fuels Marketing. The Pipeline segment engages in the transportation of refined products, crude oil, and anhydrous ammonia.