Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Sell

StockNews.com cut shares of Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Tuesday morning.

NAT has been the topic of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $4.00 target price on shares of Nordic American Tankers in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Nordic American Tankers from $4.50 to $4.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 30th.

Nordic American Tankers Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NAT stock opened at $3.27 on Tuesday. Nordic American Tankers has a 1-year low of $3.25 and a 1-year high of $4.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $3.60 and a 200-day moving average of $3.79. The stock has a market cap of $681.72 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.26 and a beta of -0.20.

Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shipping company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.03. Nordic American Tankers had a return on equity of 11.60% and a net margin of 26.35%. The company had revenue of $66.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $54.34 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.13 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Nordic American Tankers will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Nordic American Tankers Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 14.70%. Nordic American Tankers’s payout ratio is currently 165.52%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NAT. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Nordic American Tankers by 355.5% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 118,585 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $465,000 after acquiring an additional 92,552 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its holdings in Nordic American Tankers by 4.6% in the first quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 236,324 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $926,000 after acquiring an additional 10,444 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Nordic American Tankers in the first quarter worth approximately $41,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in Nordic American Tankers by 46.3% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 109,406 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $429,000 after acquiring an additional 34,631 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capstone Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Nordic American Tankers by 44.3% in the first quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC now owns 51,426 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $202,000 after purchasing an additional 15,780 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 44.29% of the company’s stock.

Nordic American Tankers Company Profile

Nordic American Tankers Limited, a tanker company, acquires and charters double-hull tankers in Bermuda and internationally. It operates a fleet of 20 Suezmax crude oil tankers. The company was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.