Golden Ocean Group Limited (NASDAQ:GOGL) Announces $0.30 Quarterly Dividend

Golden Ocean Group Limited (NASDAQ:GOGL) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, August 28th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be paid a dividend of 0.30 per share by the shipping company on Friday, September 20th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th.

Golden Ocean Group has raised its dividend by an average of 115.4% annually over the last three years. Golden Ocean Group has a dividend payout ratio of 74.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Golden Ocean Group to earn $1.75 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 68.6%.

Golden Ocean Group Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOGL traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $12.29. 1,160,476 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,627,331. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $12.78 and a 200 day moving average of $13.12. Golden Ocean Group has a 1 year low of $7.09 and a 1 year high of $15.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market cap of $2.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.14 and a beta of 1.16.

Golden Ocean Group (NASDAQ:GOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The shipping company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $197.35 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $187.74 million. Golden Ocean Group had a net margin of 19.92% and a return on equity of 8.67%. On average, research analysts expect that Golden Ocean Group will post 1.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GOGL. StockNews.com downgraded Golden Ocean Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Golden Ocean Group from $15.50 to $14.50 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday.

About Golden Ocean Group

Golden Ocean Group Limited, a shipping company, owns and operates a fleet of dry bulk vessels worldwide. The company's dry bulk vessels comprise Newcastlemax, Capesize, and Panamax vessels operating in the spot and time charter markets. It also transports a range of bulk commodities, including ores, coal, grains, and fertilizers.