Navios Maritime Partners (NYSE:NMM) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Navios Maritime Partners (NYSE:NMM) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Tuesday morning.

Navios Maritime Partners Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NMM opened at $40.19 on Tuesday. Navios Maritime Partners has a twelve month low of $37.87 and a twelve month high of $65.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a market capitalization of $1.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.87. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $43.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.86.

Navios Maritime Partners (NYSE:NMM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The shipping company reported $2.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.54 by ($1.93). Navios Maritime Partners had a net margin of 27.53% and a return on equity of 11.64%. The business had revenue of $302.99 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $340.83 million. As a group, analysts expect that Navios Maritime Partners will post 12.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Navios Maritime Partners Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. Navios Maritime Partners’s dividend payout ratio is currently 1.67%.

Institutional Trading of Navios Maritime Partners

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Navios Maritime Partners by 41.0% during the 4th quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC now owns 50,403 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $2,182,000 after purchasing an additional 14,667 shares in the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Navios Maritime Partners during the 4th quarter worth approximately $769,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of Navios Maritime Partners by 108.1% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 4,473 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $194,000 after purchasing an additional 2,324 shares during the last quarter. Ion Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Navios Maritime Partners by 81.9% during the 4th quarter. Ion Asset Management Ltd. now owns 805,678 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $34,878,000 after purchasing an additional 362,678 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis increased its position in shares of Navios Maritime Partners by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Natixis now owns 124,727 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $5,399,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the last quarter. 62.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Navios Maritime Partners

Navios Maritime Partners L.P. owns and operates dry cargo vessels in Asia, Europe, North America, and Australia. The company offers seaborne transportation services for a range of liquid and dry cargo commodities, including crude oil, refined petroleum, chemicals, iron ore, coal, grain, fertilizer, and containers, as well as charters its vessels under short, medium, and longer-term charters.