Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) Shares Up 4% – Should You Buy?

Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE:NAT) shot up 4% during mid-day trading on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $8.55 and last traded at $8.5370. 408,835 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 90% from the average daily volume of 4,250,135 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.21.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. B. Riley Financial increased their target price on Nordic American Tankers from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Wall Street Zen lowered Nordic American Tankers from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Nordic American Tankers from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, August 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $6.00.

Nordic American Tankers Trading Up 3.2%

The stock has a market cap of $1.79 billion, a PE ratio of 14.36 and a beta of -0.56. The business’s fifty day moving average is $7.22 and its 200 day moving average is $6.28. The company has a quick ratio of 3.05, a current ratio of 3.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 27th. The shipping company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.02. Nordic American Tankers had a net margin of 47.04% and a return on equity of 20.58%. The company had revenue of $79.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.18 million. As a group, analysts predict that Nordic American Tankers Limited will post 0.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Nordic American Tankers Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 10th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a positive change from Nordic American Tankers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 10th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.7%. Nordic American Tankers’s dividend payout ratio is presently 183.05%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nordic American Tankers

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NAT. SmartHarvest Portfolios LLC grew its holdings in Nordic American Tankers by 18.0% in the first quarter. SmartHarvest Portfolios LLC now owns 13,666 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 2,087 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in Nordic American Tankers during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nordic American Tankers in the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nordic American Tankers in the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, AXQ Capital LP grew its stake in shares of Nordic American Tankers by 16.4% during the 2nd quarter. AXQ Capital LP now owns 51,174 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $284,000 after buying an additional 7,198 shares during the period. 44.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nordic American Tankers Company Profile

Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE: NAT) is a Bermuda-based international shipping company that owns and operates crude oil tankers. The company’s fleet is focused primarily on Suezmax vessels, which are designed to transport large quantities of crude oil and are sized to transit the Suez Canal.

Nordic American Tankers employs a combination of voyage charters, time charters and other commercial arrangements to provide crude oil transportation services to customers in the global energy industry.