Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) Stock Passes Above 200 Day Moving Average - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Technical breakout: Nordic American Tankers' stock passed above its 200-day moving average of $4.41, trading as high as $5.68 and last at $5.5340 on volume of about 2.94 million shares.
• Analyst sentiment is negative overall—MarketBeat shows a consensus rating of "Reduce" with a $4.00 consensus price target, after mixed actions including Wall Street Zen upgrading to Hold and Evercore cutting to Underperform with a $4.50 target.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.17 (annualized $0.68), yielding 12.3%, but the latest quarter missed EPS estimates ($0.06 vs. $0.09) and the dividend carries an extremely high payout ratio of 971.43%, raising sustainability concerns.

Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE:NAT - Get Free Report)'s stock price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $4.41 and traded as high as $5.68. Nordic American Tankers shares last traded at $5.5340, with a volume of 2,944,839 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Nordic American Tankers from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, January 17th. Evercore cut Nordic American Tankers from an "in-line" rating to an "underperform" rating and set a $4.50 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $4.00.

Nordic American Tankers Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $5.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $4.41. The firm has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.07 and a beta of -0.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

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

Nordic American Tankers Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This is an increase from Nordic American Tankers's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 10th. Nordic American Tankers's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 971.43%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated bought a new position in Nordic American Tankers during the third quarter valued at about $1,362,000. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in shares of Nordic American Tankers by 53.8% in the 3rd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 482,172 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $1,514,000 after purchasing an additional 168,660 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Nordic American Tankers by 25.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,057,232 shares during the period. CenterBook Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Nordic American Tankers by 168.4% in the 3rd quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 1,761,198 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $5,530,000 after purchasing an additional 1,104,929 shares during the period. Finally, MQS Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nordic American Tankers in the 3rd quarter valued at $725,000. Institutional investors own 44.29% of the company's stock.

About Nordic American Tankers

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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