Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Frontline Call Options (NYSE:FRO)

Frontline PLC (NYSE:FRO) saw unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders purchased 6,636 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 84% compared to the typical daily volume of 3,605 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on FRO. Clarkson Capital raised shares of Frontline from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Frontline from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Frontline in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Evercore boosted their price objective on Frontline from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, BTIG Research increased their target price on Frontline from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.87.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in shares of Frontline by 155.1% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,692,537 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $27,775,000 after buying an additional 1,029,034 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Frontline by 44.0% during the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,247,120 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $51,212,000 after acquiring an additional 686,212 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Frontline by 274.3% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 877,529 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $14,400,000 after acquiring an additional 643,100 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Frontline by 256.9% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 826,343 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $18,031,000 after purchasing an additional 594,811 shares during the period. Finally, Forest Avenue Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Frontline during the fourth quarter valued at $11,917,000. Institutional investors own 22.70% of the company’s stock.

Frontline Price Performance

Shares of FRO stock traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $30.90. 1,721,611 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,183,041. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $25.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.48. The company has a market cap of $6.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.53 and a beta of 0.07. Frontline has a 12 month low of $12.40 and a 12 month high of $30.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Frontline (NYSE:FRO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 21st. The shipping company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.04). Frontline had a net margin of 12.23% and a return on equity of 8.89%. The company had revenue of $257.04 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $265.23 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.34 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Frontline will post 1.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Frontline Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th were given a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 12th. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Frontline’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.55%.

About Frontline

Frontline Ltd. (NYSE:FRO) is a leading global shipping company specializing in the seaborne transportation of crude oil and petroleum products. The company’s core business activities encompass the ownership and operation of very large crude carriers (VLCCs), Suezmax tankers and Aframax vessels. Through long-term charters, spot market operations and time charters, Frontline provides flexible shipping solutions that cater to a diverse set of energy producers, refiners and trading houses worldwide.

Frontline’s fleet is geared toward high-capacity, ocean-going tankers capable of carrying large volumes of crude oil over intercontinental distances.