Short Interest in TORM plc (NASDAQ:TRMD) Expands By 59.0%

TORM plc (NASDAQ:TRMD) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,830,000 shares, an increase of 59.0% from the August 15th total of 1,780,000 shares. Approximately 5.6% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 638,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of TORM from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd.

TORM Stock Performance

Shares of TRMD traded up $0.36 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $34.05. The stock had a trading volume of 650,552 shares, compared to its average volume of 686,522. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.94 and a current ratio of 3.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $36.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.98. TORM has a fifty-two week low of $25.05 and a fifty-two week high of $40.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.24.

TORM (NASDAQ:TRMD) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.03. TORM had a net margin of 43.81% and a return on equity of 36.06%. The firm had revenue of $437.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $325.38 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.14 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that TORM will post 7.1 EPS for the current year.

TORM Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 29th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 29th. This is a boost from TORM’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 21.15%. TORM’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.29%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TORM

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of TRMD. National Bank of Canada FI purchased a new stake in shares of TORM during the second quarter worth $26,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of TORM in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of TORM in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Fifth Third Bancorp purchased a new stake in shares of TORM in the second quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Syquant Capital Sas purchased a new stake in shares of TORM in the second quarter valued at about $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.89% of the company’s stock.

About TORM

TORM plc, a shipping company, owns and operates a fleet of product tankers in the United Kingdom. It operates in two operating segments, Tanker and Marine Exhaust. The Tanker segment transports refined oil products, such as gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, naphtha, and gas oil, as well as dirty petroleum products, including fuel oil.