Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) Stock Falls 7.8% - What's Next?

Key Points

• Nordic American Tankers shares fell 7.8% to about $7.30 in mid-day trading, with volume roughly 40% below the average.
• Analyst views remain mixed: the consensus rating is Hold, with a $6.83 average price target, despite B. Riley raising its target to $10 and Evercore maintaining a $7 underperform target.
• The company reported quarterly EPS of $0.32, beating estimates, and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.27 per share, implying a 14.6% annualized yield; however, its payout ratio is elevated at 183.05%.

Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE:NAT - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded down 7.8% during mid-day trading on Monday. The stock traded as low as $7.27 and last traded at $7.2950. Approximately 2,560,461 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 40% from the average daily volume of 4,300,188 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.91.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. B. Riley Financial lifted their price target on Nordic American Tankers from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Evercore reiterated an "underperform" rating and issued a $7.00 price objective on shares of Nordic American Tankers in a research note on Tuesday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Nordic American Tankers from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Nordic American Tankers from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, October 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $6.83.

Nordic American Tankers Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.48 and a beta of -0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 3.27 and a quick ratio of 3.05. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $7.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $6.07.

Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 27th. The shipping company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $79.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.18 million. Nordic American Tankers had a net margin of 47.04% and a return on equity of 20.58%. As a group, research analysts expect that Nordic American Tankers Limited will post 0.60 earnings per share for the current year.

Nordic American Tankers Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 10th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 10th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 14.6%. This is a positive change from Nordic American Tankers's previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Nordic American Tankers's dividend payout ratio is presently 183.05%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nordic American Tankers

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NAT. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Nordic American Tankers by 6.2% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 12,764,448 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $70,715,000 after purchasing an additional 746,279 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Nordic American Tankers by 3.9% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 12,189,811 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $71,430,000 after buying an additional 460,555 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Nordic American Tankers by 7.1% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,564,186 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $25,286,000 after buying an additional 302,212 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Nordic American Tankers during the second quarter worth about $6,302,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in Nordic American Tankers in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $5,514,000. Institutional investors own 44.29% of the company's stock.

About Nordic American Tankers

Nordic American Tankers Limited NYSE: NAT is a shipping company focused on the international transportation of crude oil. The company owns and operates Suezmax tankers, a class of vessels designed to carry large volumes of crude oil while remaining within the size limits of the Suez Canal.

Nordic American Tankers' vessels serve global crude-oil markets and transport cargoes between major producing and consuming regions. The company's operations are influenced by international seaborne trade, vessel chartering conditions, and demand for crude-oil transportation.

Founded in 1995, Nordic American Tankers is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda, and has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange since that year.

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