Tidewater Inc. (NYSE:TDW) Receives Consensus Rating of "Buy" from Brokerages

Shares of Tidewater Inc. (NYSE:TDW - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus rating of "Buy" by the five brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $111.25.

Several brokerages recently commented on TDW. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Tidewater from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Tidewater from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th.

Tidewater Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE:TDW traded up $1.56 during trading on Friday, reaching $71.67. The stock had a trading volume of 171,263 shares, compared to its average volume of 864,151. Tidewater has a one year low of $54.53 and a one year high of $111.42. The company has a market capitalization of $3.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.93 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $85.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.76.

Tidewater (NYSE:TDW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The oil and gas company reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $339.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $331.85 million. Tidewater had a net margin of 12.77% and a return on equity of 18.04%. Tidewater's revenue was up 57.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Tidewater will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Tidewater declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 6th that permits the company to buyback $13.90 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the oil and gas company to repurchase up to 0.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tidewater

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TDW. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Tidewater by 135.4% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 266 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in Tidewater by 71.6% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 374 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Tidewater in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC purchased a new stake in Tidewater in the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Hollencrest Capital Management purchased a new stake in Tidewater in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. 95.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Tidewater

Tidewater Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides offshore support vessels and marine support services to the offshore energy industry through the operation of a fleet of marine service vessels worldwide. It provides services in support of offshore oil and gas exploration, field development, and production, as well as windfarm development and maintenance, including towing of and anchor handling for mobile offshore drilling units; transporting supplies and personnel necessary to sustain drilling, workover, and production activities; offshore construction, and seismic and subsea support; geotechnical survey support for windfarm construction; and various specialized services, such as pipe and cable laying.