Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) Cut to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. B. Riley Financial upped their target price on Nordic American Tankers from $7.50 to $8.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 28th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Nordic American Tankers from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $6.00.

Nordic American Tankers Stock Performance

Shares of Nordic American Tankers stock opened at $8.37 on Friday. Nordic American Tankers has a fifty-two week low of $3.10 and a fifty-two week high of $8.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 3.27 and a quick ratio of 3.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.18 and a beta of -0.56. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $7.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $6.24.

Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 27th. The shipping company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.02. Nordic American Tankers had a net margin of 47.04% and a return on equity of 20.58%. The company had revenue of $79.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.18 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Nordic American Tankers will post 0.6 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 Thursday, September 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 10th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 10th. This is a boost from Nordic American Tankers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Nordic American Tankers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 183.05%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nordic American Tankers

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Nordic American Tankers in the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Nordic American Tankers in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Nordic American Tankers during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. ROI Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Nordic American Tankers during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Nordic American Tankers during the 1st quarter worth approximately $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 44.29% of the company’s stock.

Nordic American Tankers Company Profile

Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE: NAT) is a Bermuda-based international shipping company that owns and operates crude oil tankers. The company’s fleet is focused primarily on Suezmax vessels, which are designed to transport large quantities of crude oil and are sized to transit the Suez Canal.

Nordic American Tankers employs a combination of voyage charters, time charters and other commercial arrangements to provide crude oil transportation services to customers in the global energy industry.