Frontline (NYSE:FRO) Raised to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Frontline (NYSE:FRO) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on FRO. BTIG Research upped their price target on Frontline from $35.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Clarkson Capital raised Frontline from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Piper Sandler cut Frontline to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Dnb Carnegie downgraded shares of Frontline from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Frontline in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.00.

Frontline Stock Performance

FRO stock opened at $36.57 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $32.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.76. Frontline has a fifty-two week low of $12.40 and a fifty-two week high of $39.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.14 billion, a PE ratio of 21.51 and a beta of 0.05.

Frontline (NYSE:FRO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, February 28th. The shipping company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $624.51 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $456.90 million. Frontline had a net margin of 19.31% and a return on equity of 16.51%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 46.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.20 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Frontline will post 1.78 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Frontline

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FRO. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Frontline by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,903,785 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $129,966,000 after buying an additional 63,432 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its position 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 buying an additional 686,212 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of Frontline by 155.1% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,692,537 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $27,775,000 after acquiring an additional 1,029,034 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its stake in shares of Frontline by 18.2% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,411,265 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $30,794,000 after acquiring an additional 217,760 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Frontline by 20.6% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,058,260 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $24,118,000 after acquiring an additional 180,731 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 22.70% of the company’s stock.

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.