Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE:NAT) Short Interest Down 14.9% in April

Key Points

• Short interest fell 14.9% in April to 10,635,172 shares (5.2% of shares outstanding) with a days-to-cover of about 2.1.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.17 (annualized $0.68) for a yield of about 11.8%, though the payout ratio is an outsized 971.43%.
• Nordic American Tankers missed the quarter (EPS $0.06 vs. $0.09 expected; revenue $58.8M vs. $69.4M) and the stock carries an average analyst rating of "Reduce" with an average target of $4.00.

Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE:NAT - Get Free Report) saw a significant drop in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 10,635,172 shares, a drop of 14.9% from the March 31st total of 12,495,236 shares. Currently, 5.2% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 4,975,651 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Nordic American Tankers Stock Performance

NYSE:NAT traded up $0.18 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $5.76. The stock had a trading volume of 2,943,109 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,566,039. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 2.24. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.41. Nordic American Tankers has a 12-month low of $2.54 and a 12-month high of $6.34. The stock has a market cap of $1.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 82.23 and a beta of -0.52.

Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The shipping company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.03). Nordic American Tankers had a return on equity of 2.47% and a net margin of 6.39%.The firm had revenue of $58.76 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $69.43 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Nordic American Tankers will post 0.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nordic American Tankers Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This is a positive change from Nordic American Tankers's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.8%. Nordic American Tankers's payout ratio is currently 971.43%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Nordic American Tankers by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,729,256 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $40,348,000 after buying an additional 354,013 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Nordic American Tankers by 25.2% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,260,627 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $16,518,000 after buying an additional 1,057,232 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in Nordic American Tankers by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 5,124,150 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $16,090,000 after buying an additional 369,462 shares in the last quarter. CenterBook Partners LP grew its holdings in Nordic American Tankers by 110.1% during the 4th quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 3,700,409 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $12,729,000 after buying an additional 1,939,211 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Nordic American Tankers by 108.3% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,429,423 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $7,628,000 after buying an additional 1,263,228 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 44.29% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on NAT shares. Evercore downgraded Nordic American Tankers from an "in-line" rating to an "underperform" rating and set a $4.50 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen raised Nordic American Tankers from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, January 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $4.00.

Nordic American Tankers Company Profile

Nordic American Tankers Limited is a Bermuda-based shipping company specializing in the ownership and operation of Suezmax crude oil tankers. The company’s fleet is employed on the spot and period charter markets, transporting crude oil across major global trade routes. By focusing on commercially flexible employment strategies, Nordic American Tankers seeks to optimize vessel utilization and generate stable income for shareholders.

Founded in 1995 and headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda, Nordic American Tankers maintains technical and commercial management arrangements through established ship-management partners.

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