Hafnia Limited (NYSE:HAFN) Short Interest Up 22.5% in March

Key Points

• Short interest up 22.5% — short interest rose to 3,089,336 shares as of March 31 (about 0.6% of stock) with a days-to-cover of roughly 1.5 days based on average volume.
• Significant insider selling — CEO Mikael Opstun Skov sold 500,000 shares and CFO Echtelt Petrus Wouter Van sold 90,000 shares, with insiders offloading 1,090,000 shares (~$8.85M) in the last quarter.
• Dividend raised but high payout ratio — the quarterly dividend was increased to $0.1762 (annualized $0.70) for an 8.7% yield, but the payout ratio is about 102.9%, suggesting the dividend may not be sustainably covered.

Hafnia Limited (NYSE:HAFN - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 3,089,336 shares, a growth of 22.5% from the March 15th total of 2,522,390 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,056,949 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.5 days. Currently, 0.6% of the company's stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hafnia

In other Hafnia news, CFO Echtelt Petrus Wouter Van sold 90,000 shares of Hafnia stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.22, for a total transaction of $739,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 91,994 shares of the company's stock, valued at $756,190.68. The trade was a 49.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mikael Opstun Skov sold 500,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.11, for a total transaction of $4,055,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,130,978 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,172,231.58. The trade was a 30.66% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 1,090,000 shares of company stock valued at $8,854,800 in the last quarter.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HAFN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Hafnia by 92.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 448,644 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,687,000 after purchasing an additional 215,112 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Hafnia by 2.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,858,241 shares of the company's stock worth $65,529,000 after purchasing an additional 218,341 shares in the last quarter. Tweedy Browne Co LLC increased its stake in shares of Hafnia by 110.9% in the third quarter. Tweedy Browne Co LLC now owns 161,597 shares of the company's stock worth $968,000 after purchasing an additional 84,980 shares in the last quarter. MHR Fund Management LLC raised its position in shares of Hafnia by 24.0% in the third quarter. MHR Fund Management LLC now owns 17,186,714 shares of the company's stock valued at $102,948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,321,182 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of Hafnia by 21.5% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 196,381 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 34,784 shares during the period.

Hafnia Stock Performance

HAFN stock traded down $0.09 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $8.12. The company had a trading volume of 1,103,973 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,722,062. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.53. The firm has a market cap of $4.16 billion, a PE ratio of 11.93 and a beta of 0.54. Hafnia has a 12 month low of $4.16 and a 12 month high of $8.52. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $7.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $6.41.

Hafnia (NYSE:HAFN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.22. Hafnia had a net margin of 35.54% and a return on equity of 14.71%. The company had revenue of $599.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $285.64 million.

Hafnia Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th were paid a $0.1762 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 6th. This is a boost from Hafnia's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.7%. Hafnia's dividend payout ratio is presently 102.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HAFN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Hafnia from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, March 22nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Hafnia in a research note on Wednesday, December 24th. Finally, Dnb Carnegie cut shares of Hafnia from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy".

About Hafnia

Hafnia is a global shipping company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker HAFN. The firm specializes in the marine transportation of refined petroleum products, providing safe and reliable shipping solutions across key global trade lanes. Its core operations focus on the carriage of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other clean petroleum products, catering to the needs of oil majors, trading houses and independent refiners.

The company operates a modern fleet of double-hulled product tankers, managed to comply with stringent safety and environmental standards.

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