Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Purchases New Stake in SFL Corporation Ltd. $SFL

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in shares of SFL Corporation Ltd. (NYSE:SFL) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 41,590 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $424,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SFL. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in SFL by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,805,291 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $95,007,000 after acquiring an additional 244,621 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in SFL by 3.5% during the third quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 2,904,433 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $21,870,000 after buying an additional 97,689 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in SFL by 16.0% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,259,801 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $9,839,000 after buying an additional 174,072 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in SFL by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 685,833 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $7,400,000 after acquiring an additional 25,820 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in SFL by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 509,232 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $3,977,000 after acquiring an additional 23,937 shares during the last quarter. 28.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

SFL Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of SFL stock opened at $12.70 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.38. SFL Corporation Ltd. has a 52-week low of $6.73 and a 52-week high of $12.94. The company has a market capitalization of $1.84 billion, a PE ratio of 26.46 and a beta of 0.40. The business’s fifty day moving average is $11.95 and its 200 day moving average is $11.41.

SFL (NYSE:SFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 26th. The shipping company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $200.77 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $179.65 million. SFL had a return on equity of 3.41% and a net margin of 8.76%.SFL’s revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.01 earnings per share.

SFL Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.9%. SFL’s payout ratio is currently 183.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SFL. Weiss Ratings raised shares of SFL from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Wall Street Zen raised SFL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 22nd. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of SFL in a report on Wednesday, August 26th. Finally, BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $14.00 target price on shares of SFL in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.00.

SFL Profile

Ship Finance International Limited (NYSE: SFL) is an independent owner of modern, large-size ocean-going vessels that provides finance and leasing services to the global shipping industry. The company’s fleet encompasses a diversified mix of crude oil tankers, product and chemical tankers, liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, dry bulk carriers, container vessels and floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) units. By structuring long-term charter agreements and bareboat leases with major oil companies, commodity traders and offshore operators, Ship Finance International seeks to deliver stable cash flows and risk-adjusted returns for its shareholders.

In its core business, Ship Finance International acquires or finances vessels through forward sales agreements and then charters them out under fixed-rate contracts, typically ranging from five to 20 years in duration.