Royce & Associates LP Sells 38,920 Shares of Scorpio Tankers Inc. $STNG

Royce & Associates LP decreased its stake in shares of Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE:STNG) by 19.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 162,008 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 38,920 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Scorpio Tankers were worth $9,081,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of STNG. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Scorpio Tankers during the second quarter worth $30,890,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Scorpio Tankers by 91.9% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 642,673 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $25,148,000 after purchasing an additional 307,815 shares during the period. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Scorpio Tankers during the 2nd quarter worth about $10,845,000. DNB Asset Management AS grew its stake in shares of Scorpio Tankers by 828.3% in the 3rd quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 306,299 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $17,171,000 after buying an additional 273,302 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Scorpio Tankers by 9.4% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,778,606 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $69,597,000 after buying an additional 153,475 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.64% of the company’s stock.

Scorpio Tankers Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of NYSE:STNG opened at $79.47 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $62.48 and its 200 day moving average is $58.54. Scorpio Tankers Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.63 and a 12-month high of $81.85. The stock has a market cap of $4.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.24 and a beta of -0.31. The company has a quick ratio of 9.23, a current ratio of 9.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Scorpio Tankers (NYSE:STNG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The shipping company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $252.65 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $238.93 million. Scorpio Tankers had a return on equity of 8.85% and a net margin of 36.70%.The business’s revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Scorpio Tankers Inc. will post 5.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scorpio Tankers Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. This is an increase from Scorpio Tankers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Scorpio Tankers’s payout ratio is 23.76%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on STNG shares. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $83.00 price target on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 target price on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Scorpio Tankers from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson raised shares of Scorpio Tankers to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.67.

About Scorpio Tankers

Scorpio Tankers Inc (NYSE: STNG) is an independent provider of marine transportation services, specializing in the carriage of refined petroleum products. The company’s core operations focus on moving clean petroleum cargoes—such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and naphtha—on a global scale. By catering to both spot and time charter markets, Scorpio Tankers enables energy companies, refiners and traders to manage their supply chains with flexibility and reliability.

The company’s fleet is composed of modern, eco-designed product tankers, including medium range (MR) and long range (LR) vessels.