BW LPG Limited (NYSE:BWLP) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Key Points

• Short interest fell 29.3% in March to 333,601 shares, leaving a days-to-cover of 0.7 and roughly 0.2% of the company's shares sold short.
• BW LPG raised its quarterly dividend to $0.5652 (annualized $2.26), implying a 12.5% yield but a high dividend payout ratio of 142.5%.
• The company beat quarterly expectations with $0.69 EPS vs. $0.60 consensus and reported $732.4M in revenue (vs. $217.2M expected), with a net margin of 6.76% and ROE of 12.61%.

BW LPG Limited (NYSE:BWLP - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 333,601 shares, a decrease of 29.3% from the March 15th total of 472,122 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 472,067 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.7 days. Approximately 0.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of BW LPG by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,621,504 shares of the company's stock valued at $47,163,000 after buying an additional 35,066 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of BW LPG by 12.1% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,530,196 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,131,000 after buying an additional 272,882 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of BW LPG by 8.8% in the second quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,395,760 shares of the company's stock valued at $16,413,000 after buying an additional 113,275 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of BW LPG by 41.4% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 560,231 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,613,000 after buying an additional 164,057 shares during the period. Finally, Fearnley Asset Management AS acquired a new stake in BW LPG during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,388,000.

BW LPG Stock Up 1.6%

BWLP stock opened at $18.13 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.33 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. BW LPG has a 12 month low of $9.15 and a 12 month high of $18.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $16.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $14.47.

BW LPG (NYSE:BWLP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. The company reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $732.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $217.18 million. BW LPG had a net margin of 6.76% and a return on equity of 12.61%.

BW LPG Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a $0.5652 dividend. This represents a $2.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.5%. This is an increase from BW LPG's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. BW LPG's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 142.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Kepler Capital Markets cut shares of BW LPG from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of BW LPG in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Dnb Carnegie cut shares of BW LPG from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of BW LPG from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold".

BW LPG Company Profile

BW LPG NYSE: BWLP is a pure‐play owner and operator of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers. The company's core business centers on the maritime transportation of LPG, predominantly propane and butane, under both time‐ and voyage‐charter arrangements. Its fleet comprises pressurized and semi‐refrigerated vessels designed to meet the specific requirements of LPG producers, traders and end‐users around the world.

Headquartered in Singapore, BW LPG serves a global customer base, with commercial offices in key energy hubs including Houston, London, Dubai and Tokyo.

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