Wall Street Zen Downgrades Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) to Buy

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Nordic American Tankers from “strong buy” to “buy,” while the broader analyst consensus remains “hold” with an average price target of $5.33.
• NAT shares opened at $8.40, near their 12-month high of $8.43, and were up 2.9%; the company reported quarterly EPS of $0.32, beating estimates by $0.02, although revenue came in below expectations.
• Institutional ownership stands at 44.29%, with major investors including BlackRock increasing their stakes and several firms establishing new positions.

Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

NAT has been the topic of a number of other research reports. B. Riley Financial boosted their price target on shares of Nordic American Tankers from $7.50 to $8.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 28th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Nordic American Tankers from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Friday, August 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nordic American Tankers has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $5.33.

Nordic American Tankers Stock Up 2.9%

Shares of NAT opened at $8.40 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.78 billion, a PE ratio of 14.24 and a beta of -0.56. Nordic American Tankers has a 12 month low of $3.10 and a 12 month high of $8.43. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $7.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $6.21. The company has a current ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 3.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 27th. The shipping company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $79.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $84.18 million. Nordic American Tankers had a return on equity of 20.58% and a net margin of 47.04%. On average, analysts anticipate that Nordic American Tankers will post 0.6 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CenterBook Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of Nordic American Tankers by 110.1% in the fourth quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 3,700,409 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $12,729,000 after purchasing an additional 1,939,211 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Nordic American Tankers during the second quarter worth about $6,302,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in Nordic American Tankers in the 2nd quarter worth about $5,514,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in Nordic American Tankers in the 1st quarter worth about $4,377,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Nordic American Tankers by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 12,764,448 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $70,715,000 after buying an additional 746,279 shares during the last quarter. 44.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Nordic American Tankers

Nordic American Tankers Limited NYSE: NAT is a Bermuda-based international shipping company that owns and operates crude oil tankers. The company's fleet is focused primarily on Suezmax vessels, which are designed to transport large quantities of crude oil and are sized to transit the Suez Canal.

Nordic American Tankers employs a combination of voyage charters, time charters and other commercial arrangements to provide crude oil transportation services to customers in the global energy industry.

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