Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) Cut to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report released on Sunday.

Separately, Evercore lowered Nordic American Tankers from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $4.50 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Nordic American Tankers has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $4.00.

Nordic American Tankers Stock Performance

NAT stock opened at $6.42 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $5.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5.37. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.36 billion, a PE ratio of 23.76 and a beta of -0.57. Nordic American Tankers has a 1-year low of $2.72 and a 1-year high of $6.70.

Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The shipping company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $77.51 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $81.86 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Nordic American Tankers will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Nordic American Tankers Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 10th were given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 10th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 13.7%. This is an increase from Nordic American Tankers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Nordic American Tankers’s payout ratio is presently 325.93%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nordic American Tankers

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NAT. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nordic American Tankers in the 2nd quarter valued at about $59,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nordic American Tankers during the second quarter worth about $32,000. Axiom Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nordic American Tankers during the first quarter worth about $110,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Nordic American Tankers by 9.9% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 392,771 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,302,000 after buying an additional 35,264 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Nordic American Tankers by 7.5% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 949,606 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $5,565,000 after buying an additional 66,569 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 44.29% of the company’s stock.

About Nordic American Tankers

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.