Torm (NASDAQ:TRMD) Shares Down 3.5% – Time to Sell?

Torm Plc (NASDAQ:TRMD)’s share price fell 3.5% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $21.52 and last traded at $21.6910. 171,681 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 838,161 shares. The stock had previously closed at $22.48.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on TRMD. Evercore ISI set a $23.00 price target on shares of Torm and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Fearnley Fonds upgraded Torm from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Pareto Securities cut Torm from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Torm in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.00.

Torm Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.37 and a quick ratio of 2.07. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $21.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.77. The company has a market cap of $2.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.00 and a beta of 0.06.

Torm (NASDAQ:TRMD) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.17. Torm had a return on equity of 13.03% and a net margin of 21.37%.The firm had revenue of $342.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $258.49 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Torm Plc will post 6.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Torm Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.4%. This is a boost from Torm’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Torm’s payout ratio is currently 66.54%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TRMD. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Torm by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,329,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,960,000 after purchasing an additional 94,175 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Torm during the second quarter valued at about $20,998,000. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Torm during the second quarter worth about $7,523,000. Lind Value II ApS bought a new stake in Torm in the second quarter worth about $7,283,000. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Torm by 613.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 206,508 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,258,000 after purchasing an additional 177,551 shares in the last quarter. 73.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Torm Company Profile

TORM plc, a shipping company, owns and operates a fleet of product tankers in the United Kingdom. It operates in two operating segments, Tanker and Marine Exhaust. The Tanker segment transports refined oil products, such as gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, naphtha, and gas oil, as well as dirty petroleum products, including fuel oil.