Insider Buying: KNOT Offshore Partners (NYSE:KNOP) Director Purchases 1,250,000 Shares of Stock

KNOT Offshore Partners LP (NYSE:KNOP) Director Trygve Seglem purchased 1,250,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were bought at an average price of $20.00 per share, with a total value of $25,000,000.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 1,458,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,166,660. The trade was a 600.00% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

KNOT Offshore Partners Stock Performance

KNOP stock traded down $0.11 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $10.40. 77,762 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 110,363. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $10.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $350.20 million, a PE ratio of 19.27 and a beta of -0.06. KNOT Offshore Partners LP has a 52 week low of $6.16 and a 52 week high of $11.78.

KNOT Offshore Partners (NYSE:KNOP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The shipping company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.09). KNOT Offshore Partners had a return on equity of 6.36% and a net margin of 4.92%.The company had revenue of $92.01 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.35 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that KNOT Offshore Partners LP will post 0.14 EPS for the current year.

KNOT Offshore Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Investors of record on Monday, April 27th were paid a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 27th. This is an increase from KNOT Offshore Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. KNOT Offshore Partners’s payout ratio is currently 37.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on KNOP shares. Weiss Ratings cut shares of KNOT Offshore Partners from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen cut KNOT Offshore Partners from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. B. Riley Financial raised shares of KNOT Offshore Partners from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $14.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Fearnley Fonds upgraded KNOT Offshore Partners from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $14.00.

Institutional Trading of KNOT Offshore Partners

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in KNOP. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of KNOT Offshore Partners by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,335,435 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $13,461,000 after purchasing an additional 108,400 shares during the period. American Beacon Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of KNOT Offshore Partners by 182.6% during the fourth quarter. American Beacon Advisors Inc. now owns 503,895 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $5,215,000 after buying an additional 325,588 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of KNOT Offshore Partners by 56.5% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 145,483 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,506,000 after buying an additional 52,538 shares in the last quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KNOT Offshore Partners in the 4th quarter valued at $1,294,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new position in KNOT Offshore Partners during the 1st quarter valued at about $643,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.82% of the company’s stock.

About KNOT Offshore Partners

KNOT Offshore Partners LP is a publicly traded limited partnership formed in 2013 to own and operate shuttle tankers under long‐term charters in the offshore oil industry. Listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol KNOP, the partnership specializes in the transportation of crude oil from offshore production facilities to onshore refineries. Its fleet comprises moderne shuttle tankers equipped with dynamic positioning systems, enabling safe transfer operations in harsh weather and sea conditions.

The partnership’s vessels primarily serve fields in the North Sea, Brazil and West Africa, where they operate under multi‐year contracts with major energy producers.