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 published on Saturday.

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $3.00 price objective on shares of Nordic American Tankers in a research report on Friday, February 28th.

Nordic American Tankers Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NAT stock opened at $2.52 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $2.66 and a 200 day moving average of $3.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market cap of $525.12 million, a P/E ratio of 8.67 and a beta of -0.33. Nordic American Tankers has a twelve month low of $2.41 and a twelve month high of $4.40.

Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) last posted 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 business had revenue of $46.39 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $51.38 million. Nordic American Tankers had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 11.95%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Nordic American Tankers will post 0.24 EPS for the current year.

Nordic American Tankers Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Nordic American Tankers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 109.09%.

Institutional Trading of Nordic American Tankers

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NAT. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its position in shares of Nordic American Tankers by 67.6% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,774,100 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $13,851,000 after purchasing an additional 1,521,900 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nordic American Tankers during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,072,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Nordic American Tankers by 834.7% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 545,019 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,363,000 after purchasing an additional 486,710 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Nordic American Tankers during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,202,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Nordic American Tankers by 68.8% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 978,100 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,445,000 after purchasing an additional 398,700 shares in the last quarter. 44.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Nordic American Tankers

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.