Global Partners (NYSE:GLP) Stock Price Down 6.4% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Global Partners LP (NYSE:GLP) traded down 6.4% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $47.82 and last traded at $46.46. 21,830 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 59% from the average session volume of 53,331 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.64.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Global Partners from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Global Partners from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Global Partners from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Global Partners from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Global Partners presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.00.

Global Partners Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market cap of $1.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.18 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $47.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.14.

Global Partners (NYSE:GLP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The energy company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $1.52. The firm had revenue of $5.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.98 billion. Global Partners had a net margin of 0.77% and a return on equity of 24.23%. Equities analysts forecast that Global Partners LP will post 4.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a $0.765 dividend. This is an increase from Global Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $3.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.5%. Global Partners’s payout ratio is presently 85.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Partners

In related news, COO Mark Romaine sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.39, for a total value of $355,425.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 151,609 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,184,750.51. The trade was a 4.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,311 shares of company stock valued at $1,014,249. 41.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Global Partners

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GLP. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Global Partners by 2.3% during the first quarter. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC now owns 110,208 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $4,640,000 after purchasing an additional 2,527 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in Global Partners by 2.5% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 54,743 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $2,305,000 after purchasing an additional 1,337 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in Global Partners by 0.8% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 55,496 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $2,336,000 after purchasing an additional 463 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Global Partners by 46.9% during the first quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,147 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $343,000 after purchasing an additional 2,602 shares during the period. Finally, Spinnaker Trust boosted its position in Global Partners by 6.1% during the first quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 12,146 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $511,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the period. 38.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Global Partners

Global Partners LP is a publicly traded master limited partnership engaged in the wholesale distribution and retail marketing of petroleum products. The company sources refined petroleum products from major refineries and suppliers and transports them through an integrated network of pipelines, terminals and storage facilities. Global Partners focuses on delivering fuel and related services to commercial, industrial and residential customers, positioning itself as a key midstream and downstream energy operator in its core markets.

Through its extensive terminal network in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada, Global Partners supplies gasoline, diesel, home heating oil, kerosene, propane and biofuels to a broad customer base.