Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) Sets New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE:NAT)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $6.34 and last traded at $6.3250, with a volume of 2544313 shares. The stock had previously closed at $6.21.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on NAT shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Nordic American Tankers from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 7th. Evercore cut shares of Nordic American Tankers from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $4.50 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nordic American Tankers has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $4.00.

Nordic American Tankers Trading Up 0.3%

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.00 and a beta of -0.57. The company has a current ratio of 3.00, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $5.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.93.

Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 28th. The shipping company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.01. Nordic American Tankers had a return on equity of 9.16% and a net margin of 24.19%.The company had revenue of $77.51 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.86 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Nordic American Tankers Limited will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nordic American Tankers Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 10th. This is a positive change from Nordic American Tankers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.6%. Nordic American Tankers’s payout ratio is currently 325.93%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NAT. CenterBook Partners LP lifted its position in Nordic American Tankers by 110.1% during the fourth quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 3,700,409 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $12,729,000 after acquiring an additional 1,939,211 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Nordic American Tankers by 108.3% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,429,423 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $7,628,000 after purchasing an additional 1,263,228 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Nordic American Tankers by 25.2% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,260,627 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $16,518,000 after purchasing an additional 1,057,232 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its position in shares of Nordic American Tankers by 83.9% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,277,830 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $7,152,000 after purchasing an additional 1,039,353 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simcoe Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nordic American Tankers during the fourth quarter worth $3,522,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 44.29% of the company’s stock.

Nordic American Tankers Company Profile

Nordic American Tankers Limited is a Bermuda-based shipping company specializing in the ownership and operation of Suezmax crude oil tankers. The company’s fleet is employed on the spot and period charter markets, transporting crude oil across major global trade routes. By focusing on commercially flexible employment strategies, Nordic American Tankers seeks to optimize vessel utilization and generate stable income for shareholders.

Founded in 1995 and headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda, Nordic American Tankers maintains technical and commercial management arrangements through established ship-management partners.