Stifel Nicolaus Raises Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE:GNK) Price Target to $23.00

Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE:GNK - Free Report) had its price objective lifted by Stifel Nicolaus from $22.00 to $23.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the shipping company's stock.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. BTIG Research reaffirmed a neutral rating on shares of Genco Shipping & Trading in a report on Friday, January 5th. StockNews.com lowered Genco Shipping & Trading from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, TheStreet raised Genco Shipping & Trading from a c rating to a b- rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $21.00.

Genco Shipping & Trading Stock Up 1.3 %

GNK traded up $0.27 on Friday, reaching $20.55. The company's stock had a trading volume of 429,753 shares, compared to its average volume of 729,010. The company has a market capitalization of $878.51 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -65.77 and a beta of 1.18. Genco Shipping & Trading has a fifty-two week low of $12.39 and a fifty-two week high of $21.24. The company has a quick ratio of 3.70, a current ratio of 4.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $19.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.89.

Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE:GNK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The shipping company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $115.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.54 million. Genco Shipping & Trading had a negative net margin of 3.35% and a positive return on equity of 3.10%. The company's revenue was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.67 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Genco Shipping & Trading will post 1.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Genco Shipping & Trading Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.98%. This is a positive change from Genco Shipping & Trading's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Genco Shipping & Trading's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -529.03%.

Insider Activity at Genco Shipping & Trading

In other Genco Shipping & Trading news, CFO Peter George Allen sold 7,036 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.80, for a total transaction of $139,312.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 35,518 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $703,256.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Genco Shipping & Trading news, CFO Peter George Allen sold 7,036 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.80, for a total value of $139,312.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 35,518 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $703,256.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Joseph Adamo sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.87, for a total transaction of $119,220.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,202 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $341,803.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 62,496 shares of company stock worth $1,238,678 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Genco Shipping & Trading

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GNK. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Genco Shipping & Trading by 696.5% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 78,118 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $1,296,000 after buying an additional 68,310 shares during the period. Key Colony Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Genco Shipping & Trading in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,510,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its holdings in Genco Shipping & Trading by 76.0% during the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 47,469 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $664,000 after buying an additional 20,500 shares in the last quarter. MQS Management LLC acquired a new position in Genco Shipping & Trading during the third quarter worth about $361,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in Genco Shipping & Trading by 1.1% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 93,400 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $1,307,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.62% of the company's stock.

About Genco Shipping & Trading

Genco Shipping & Trading Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the ocean transportation of drybulk cargoes worldwide. The company owns and operates dry bulk vessels to transports iron ore, grains, coal, steel products, and other drybulk cargoes. It charters its vessels primarily to trading houses, including commodities traders; producers; and government-owned entities.