Okeanis Eco Tankers (NYSE:ECO) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Okeanis Eco Tankers Corp. (NYSE:ECO) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $66.25 and last traded at $66.12, with a volume of 152015 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.10.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. B. Riley Financial upped their price objective on shares of Okeanis Eco Tankers from $55.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Okeanis Eco Tankers from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Okeanis Eco Tankers from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Okeanis Eco Tankers from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Pareto Securities lowered Okeanis Eco Tankers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $57.50 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, May 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Okeanis Eco Tankers currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.52.

Okeanis Eco Tankers Trading Up 1.9%

The company has a current ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 4.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.10 and a beta of -0.15. The company has a fifty day moving average of $56.61 and a 200-day moving average of $52.07.

Okeanis Eco Tankers (NYSE:ECO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $5.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.61 by $1.30. The business had revenue of $268.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $220.28 million. Okeanis Eco Tankers had a return on equity of 62.06% and a net margin of 56.92%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Okeanis Eco Tankers Corp. will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Okeanis Eco Tankers Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 21st. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a $5.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $21.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 32.1%. This is an increase from Okeanis Eco Tankers’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.00. Okeanis Eco Tankers’s dividend payout ratio is currently 195.90%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Financial Lp Qvt sold 68,420 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.99, for a total value of $4,104,515.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,347,038 shares in the company, valued at $80,808,809.62. This represents a 4.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Institutional Trading of Okeanis Eco Tankers

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ECO. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Okeanis Eco Tankers in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,416,000. Fearnley Asset Management AS purchased a new stake in Okeanis Eco Tankers in the 4th quarter valued at $18,696,000. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in Okeanis Eco Tankers in the 4th quarter valued at $10,911,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Okeanis Eco Tankers in the 4th quarter worth $5,222,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Okeanis Eco Tankers by 96.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 278,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,079,000 after acquiring an additional 136,782 shares during the last quarter.

About Okeanis Eco Tankers

Okeanis Eco Tankers Corp. is a Marshall Islands–incorporated, publicly traded shipping company specializing in the ownership and operation of eco-design product tankers. The company made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “ECO” in May 2019 following an initial public offering. It focuses on the acquisition of newbuilding medium-range (MR) and long-range (LR) product tankers designed to deliver enhanced fuel efficiency and reduced emissions.

As of its public listing, Okeanis Eco Tankers’ fleet comprises twelve eco-efficient vessels built by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries in South Korea.