KNOT Offshore Partners LP (NYSE:KNOP) Increases Dividend to $0.10 Per Share

KNOT Offshore Partners LP (NYSE:KNOP) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 26th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share by the shipping company on Thursday, November 12th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 26th. This is a 33.3% increase from KNOT Offshore Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.0750.

KNOT Offshore Partners has decreased its dividend by an average of 0.5%per year over the last three years. KNOT Offshore Partners has a payout ratio of 30.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect KNOT Offshore Partners to earn $0.19 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $0.30 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 157.9%.

KNOT Offshore Partners Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KNOP traded up $0.12 during trading on Thursday, reaching $10.45. 72,133 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 88,295. The firm has a market capitalization of $351.88 million, a PE ratio of 23.76 and a beta of -0.05. KNOT Offshore Partners has a 52 week low of $8.00 and a 52 week high of $11.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The company’s 50 day moving average is $10.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.60.

KNOT Offshore Partners (NYSE:KNOP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 14th. The shipping company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $96.78 million for the quarter. KNOT Offshore Partners had a return on equity of 5.73% and a net margin of 3.90%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that KNOT Offshore Partners will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on KNOP. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of KNOT Offshore Partners in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of KNOT Offshore Partners from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 6th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of KNOT Offshore Partners from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, KNOT Offshore Partners currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.00.

About KNOT Offshore Partners

KNOT Offshore Partners LP (NYSE:KNOP) is a publicly traded master limited partnership that owns and operates shuttle tankers. These specialized vessels transport crude oil from offshore production facilities, such as floating production, storage and offloading units, to onshore terminals, refineries, or other destinations.

The partnership’s fleet is primarily employed under long-term charter contracts with energy companies and offshore producers. Its shuttle tankers are designed for repeated loading and transportation of crude oil in offshore environments and may use dynamic positioning and other specialized systems to safely connect with production and storage vessels.

KNOT Offshore Partners was established in 2013 and is sponsored by Knutsen NYK Offshore Tankers AS, a company associated with the Knutsen shipping group and NYK Line.