Genco Shipping & Trading Limited (NYSE:GNK) Raises Dividend to $0.42 Per Share

Genco Shipping & Trading Limited (NYSE:GNK) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 9th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be given a dividend of 0.42 per share by the shipping company on Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 21st. This is a positive change from Genco Shipping & Trading’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41.

Genco Shipping & Trading has increased its dividend by an average of 59.3% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 1 consecutive years. Genco Shipping & Trading has a dividend payout ratio of 72.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Genco Shipping & Trading to earn $2.43 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 67.5%.

Genco Shipping & Trading Stock Performance

Genco Shipping & Trading stock traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $22.68. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 643,302 shares, compared to its average volume of 712,148. The company has a market capitalization of $969.62 million, a P/E ratio of -73.06 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $20.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.62. Genco Shipping & Trading has a 12-month low of $12.39 and a 12-month high of $23.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 3.70 and a current ratio of 4.46.

Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE:GNK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The shipping company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $117.44 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $77.31 million. Genco Shipping & Trading had a negative net margin of 3.35% and a positive return on equity of 3.10%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.06 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Genco Shipping & Trading will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GNK shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Genco Shipping & Trading from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. TheStreet upgraded Genco Shipping & Trading from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Genco Shipping & Trading from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Genco Shipping & Trading from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.33.

Insider Transactions at Genco Shipping & Trading

In other news, CAO Joseph Adamo sold 1,396 shares of Genco Shipping & Trading stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.40, for a total value of $28,478.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $367,077.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Jesper Christensen sold 12,404 shares of Genco Shipping & Trading stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.80, for a total transaction of $245,599.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 42,587 shares in the company, valued at $843,222.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Joseph Adamo sold 1,396 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.40, for a total value of $28,478.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $367,077.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 62,496 shares of company stock valued at $1,238,678 in the last 90 days. 2.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Genco Shipping & Trading

Genco Shipping & Trading Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the ocean transportation of drybulk cargoes worldwide. The company owns and operates dry bulk vessels to transports iron ore, grains, coal, steel products, and other drybulk cargoes. It charters its vessels primarily to trading houses, including commodities traders; producers; and government-owned entities.