KNOT Offshore Partners (NYSE:KNOP) Rating Increased to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of KNOT Offshore Partners (NYSE:KNOP) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Sunday.

KNOP has been the topic of a number of other reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of KNOT Offshore Partners from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of KNOT Offshore Partners in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.00.

KNOT Offshore Partners Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE KNOP opened at $10.68 on Friday. KNOT Offshore Partners has a one year low of $6.95 and a one year high of $11.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.25. The company has a market capitalization of $359.49 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.78 and a beta of -0.05. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $10.50.

KNOT Offshore Partners (NYSE:KNOP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The shipping company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.17 by ($0.09). KNOT Offshore Partners had a return on equity of 6.36% and a net margin of 4.92%.The business had revenue of $92.01 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.35 million. Equities analysts forecast that KNOT Offshore Partners will post 0.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KNOT Offshore Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 27th were given a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 27th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. This is a boost from KNOT Offshore Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. KNOT Offshore Partners’s payout ratio is presently 55.56%.

Insider Transactions at KNOT Offshore Partners

In related news, Director Trygve Seglem purchased 1,250,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $20.00 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,000.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 1,458,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,166,660. This trade represents a 600.00% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Institutional Trading of KNOT Offshore Partners

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KNOP. Royal Bank of Canada purchased a new stake in KNOT Offshore Partners during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of KNOT Offshore Partners by 8.8% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,335,435 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $13,461,000 after purchasing an additional 108,400 shares during the last quarter. Walleye Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of KNOT Offshore Partners in the first quarter worth about $259,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new position in shares of KNOT Offshore Partners in the first quarter worth about $643,000. Finally, Alpine Global Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KNOT Offshore Partners during the fourth quarter worth about $1,294,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.82% of the company’s stock.

KNOT Offshore Partners Company Profile

KNOT Offshore Partners LP is a publicly traded limited partnership formed in 2013 to own and operate shuttle tankers under long‐term charters in the offshore oil industry. Listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol KNOP, the partnership specializes in the transportation of crude oil from offshore production facilities to onshore refineries. Its fleet comprises moderne shuttle tankers equipped with dynamic positioning systems, enabling safe transfer operations in harsh weather and sea conditions.

The partnership’s vessels primarily serve fields in the North Sea, Brazil and West Africa, where they operate under multi‐year contracts with major energy producers.