Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) Stock Price Down 7.8% – What’s Next?

Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE:NAT) shares traded down 7.8% during mid-day trading on Monday. The stock traded as low as $7.27 and last traded at $7.2950. 2,560,461 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 40% from the average session volume of 4,300,188 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.91.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on NAT shares. B. Riley Financial raised their target price on shares of Nordic American Tankers from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Weiss Ratings raised Nordic American Tankers from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Evercore reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $7.00 price objective on shares of Nordic American Tankers in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Nordic American Tankers from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $6.83.

Nordic American Tankers Trading Down 6.8%

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.48 and a beta of -0.50. The company has a current ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 3.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $7.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $6.07.

Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 27th. The shipping company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.02. Nordic American Tankers had a net margin of 47.04% and a return on equity of 20.58%. The company had revenue of $79.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.18 million. On average, analysts anticipate that Nordic American Tankers Limited will post 0.60 EPS for the current year.

Nordic American Tankers Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 10th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 10th. This is a positive change from Nordic American Tankers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 14.6%. Nordic American Tankers’s payout ratio is 183.05%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nordic American Tankers

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its holdings in Nordic American Tankers by 332.6% in the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 3,764 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 2,894 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nordic American Tankers by 184.0% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,306 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 3,438 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in Nordic American Tankers during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nordic American Tankers in the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nordic American Tankers in the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 44.29% of the company’s stock.

About Nordic American Tankers

Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE:NAT) is a shipping company focused on the international transportation of crude oil. The company owns and operates Suezmax tankers, a class of vessels designed to carry large volumes of crude oil while remaining within the size limits of the Suez Canal.

Nordic American Tankers’ vessels serve global crude-oil markets and transport cargoes between major producing and consuming regions. The company’s operations are influenced by international seaborne trade, vessel chartering conditions, and demand for crude-oil transportation.

Founded in 1995, Nordic American Tankers is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda, and has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange since that year.