Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) Downgraded to Sell Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT - Free Report) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $3.00 price objective on shares of Nordic American Tankers in a research report on Friday, February 28th.

Nordic American Tankers Price Performance

Shares of NAT stock traded up $0.01 on Friday, hitting $2.44. 2,932,959 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,469,967. The firm has a market cap of $508.42 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.40 and a beta of -0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3.04. Nordic American Tankers has a 52 week low of $2.40 and a 52 week high of $4.40.

Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 5th. The shipping company reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.03 by ($0.02). Nordic American Tankers had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 11.95%. The business had revenue of $46.39 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $51.38 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Nordic American Tankers will post 0.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Remove Ads

Nordic American Tankers Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.86%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Nordic American Tankers's payout ratio is 109.09%.

Institutional Trading of Nordic American Tankers

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Nordic American Tankers by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 53,105 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $135,000 after acquiring an additional 8,411 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its holdings in shares of Nordic American Tankers by 2,001.0% in the fourth quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 413,568 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $1,034,000 after purchasing an additional 393,884 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its holdings in Nordic American Tankers by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,787,400 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $9,468,000 after buying an additional 13,300 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in Nordic American Tankers by 49.0% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 57,408 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $144,000 after buying an additional 18,890 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Nordic American Tankers by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 673,097 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $1,683,000 after acquiring an additional 60,391 shares in the last quarter. 44.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Nordic American Tankers

Nordic American Tankers Limited, a tanker company, acquires and charters double-hull tankers in Bermuda and internationally. It operates a fleet of 20 Suezmax crude oil tankers. The company was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.