Short Interest in TORM plc (NASDAQ:TRMD) Decreases By 17.7%

TORM plc (NASDAQ:TRMD) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,950,000 shares, a decrease of 17.7% from the September 30th total of 2,370,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 831,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days. Approximately 3.8% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TORM

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. National Bank of Canada FI purchased a new stake in TORM during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Fifth Third Bancorp purchased a new stake in TORM during the second quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Syquant Capital Sas purchased a new stake in TORM during the second quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of TORM in the first quarter worth $51,000. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of TORM in the second quarter worth $78,000. 73.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of TORM from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Fearnley Fonds upgraded shares of TORM to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th.

TORM Price Performance

Shares of TRMD stock opened at $26.61 on Monday. 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 company’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.59. TORM has a one year low of $26.10 and a one year high of $40.47.

TORM (NASDAQ:TRMD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $325.38 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.14 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that TORM will post 7.12 EPS for the current year.

TORM Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 29th were paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 29th. This is an increase from TORM’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 27.06%. TORM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.44%.

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.