Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Here’s Why

Shares of Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE:NAT) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $2.40 and last traded at $2.42, with a volume of 348165 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $2.46.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on NAT shares. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $3.00 target price on shares of Nordic American Tankers in a research note on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com lowered Nordic American Tankers from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday.

Nordic American Tankers Trading Up 0.2 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $508.42 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.40 and a beta of -0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.73. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $2.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $3.03.

Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 5th. The shipping company reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $46.39 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $51.38 million. Nordic American Tankers had a return on equity of 11.95% and a net margin of 26.41%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Nordic American Tankers Limited will post 0.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Nordic American Tankers Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.86%. Nordic American Tankers’s payout ratio is 109.09%.

Institutional Trading of Nordic American Tankers

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Nordic American Tankers by 274.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 268,115 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $984,000 after purchasing an additional 196,571 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in Nordic American Tankers in the fourth quarter valued at about $509,000. Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC raised its position in Nordic American Tankers by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC now owns 1,206,410 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,016,000 after purchasing an additional 97,819 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in Nordic American Tankers by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 483,457 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,209,000 after purchasing an additional 5,439 shares during the period. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC raised its position in Nordic American Tankers by 46.0% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 86,357 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $317,000 after purchasing an additional 27,210 shares during the period. 44.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.