Torm Plc (NASDAQ:TRMD) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Torm Plc (NASDAQ:TRMD) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $34.00.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on TRMD. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Torm in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Torm from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 7th. Finally, Fearnley Fonds raised shares of Torm from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th.

Torm Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TRMD opened at $27.23 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $25.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.66. Torm has a fifty-two week low of $13.60 and a fifty-two week high of $31.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.59 and a beta of -0.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.16.

Torm (NASDAQ:TRMD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.04. Torm had a return on equity of 13.26% and a net margin of 21.29%.The firm had revenue of $347.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $236.21 million. As a group, analysts predict that Torm will post 6.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Torm Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 12th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 12th. This is an increase from Torm’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Torm’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.83%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Torm

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in Torm in the 2nd quarter valued at $20,998,000. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Torm during the second quarter worth $7,523,000. Marnell Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Torm in the fourth quarter valued at $4,815,000. Fearnley Asset Management AS acquired a new stake in shares of Torm in the fourth quarter valued at $4,048,000. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Torm by 613.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 206,508 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,258,000 after buying an additional 177,551 shares during the last quarter. 73.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Torm Company Profile

Torm A/S (NASDAQ: TRMD) is an international shipping company specializing in the transportation of refined petroleum products. The firm owns and operates a modern fleet of product tankers, including both Handysize and MR vessels, which are designed to carry a broad range of clean petroleum cargoes such as gasoline, jet fuel and diesel. Torm’s core business revolves around voyage and time-charter contracts with major oil companies, trading houses and other energy sector clients around the world.

The company’s fleet is deployed on global trade routes, with particular focus on major refining and consumption regions in Europe, North America and Asia.