Okeanis Eco Tankers (NYSE:ECO) Shares Gap Down - Here's Why

Key Points

• Okeanis Eco Tankers shares opened sharply lower, falling from a previous close of $95.66 to $89.67 before recovering to about $92.56 in trading.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: B. Riley raised its price target to $100 with a buy rating, while Zacks downgraded the stock to hold. The overall consensus remains Hold, with a $67.85 price target.
• The company reported quarterly EPS of $5.91, beating estimates by $1.30, and revenue of $268.14 million. It also increased its quarterly dividend to $5.25, implying a 23.3% annualized yield, though its payout ratio reached 195.9%.

Okeanis Eco Tankers Corp. (NYSE:ECO - Get Free Report) shares gapped down before the market opened on Thursday. The stock had previously closed at $95.66, but opened at $89.67. Okeanis Eco Tankers shares last traded at $92.5570, with a volume of 400,568 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ECO shares. B. Riley Financial upped their price target on shares of Okeanis Eco Tankers from $75.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Zacks Research downgraded Okeanis Eco Tankers from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Okeanis Eco Tankers from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Okeanis Eco Tankers from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $67.85.

Okeanis Eco Tankers Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $3.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.42 and a beta of -0.19. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 4.13 and a current ratio of 4.43.

Okeanis Eco Tankers (NYSE:ECO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $5.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.61 by $1.30. The firm had revenue of $268.14 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $220.28 million. Okeanis Eco Tankers had a return on equity of 62.06% and a net margin of 56.92%. On average, equities analysts expect that Okeanis Eco Tankers Corp. will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Okeanis Eco Tankers Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th were given a $5.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. This is a positive change from Okeanis Eco Tankers's previous quarterly dividend of $2.00. This represents a $21.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 23.3%. Okeanis Eco Tankers's payout ratio is 195.90%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Okeanis Eco Tankers news, Director Financial Lp Qvt sold 68,420 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.99, for a total transaction of $4,104,515.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,347,038 shares of the company's stock, valued at $80,808,809.62. This trade represents a 4.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Okeanis Eco Tankers

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Okeanis Eco Tankers in the 4th quarter valued at $27,416,000. Fearnley Asset Management AS bought a new stake in Okeanis Eco Tankers during the fourth quarter valued at $18,696,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Okeanis Eco Tankers by 96.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 278,305 shares of the company's stock worth $14,079,000 after acquiring an additional 136,782 shares in the last quarter. Walleye Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Okeanis Eco Tankers by 71.9% in the 1st quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 177,417 shares of the company's stock worth $8,976,000 after acquiring an additional 74,231 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Militia Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Okeanis Eco Tankers in the first quarter valued at approximately $3,541,000.

About Okeanis Eco Tankers

Okeanis Eco Tankers Corp. is a maritime transportation company that owns and operates a fleet of modern, fuel-efficient crude oil tankers. The company focuses primarily on large crude carriers, including very large crude carriers (VLCCs) and Suezmax tankers, which transport crude oil between major production and refining regions around the world.

Through its vessels and associated commercial and technical management activities, Okeanis Eco Tankers provides seaborne transportation services to customers in the global energy industry.

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