Scorpio Tankers (NYSE:STNG) Shares Climb 3.7% - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Scorpio Tankers shares rose 3.7% to about $87.62, although trading volume was 77% below the average daily level.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: five analysts rate the stock Buy, five Hold and one Sell, producing an overall “Hold” consensus and a $91.57 average price target.
• The company exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, with EPS of $4.68 and revenue up 77.5% year over year. It also pays a $0.45 quarterly dividend, while insiders have sold more than 420,000 shares over the past three months.

Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE:STNG - Get Free Report) shares rose 3.7% on Thursday. The company traded as high as $88.44 and last traded at $87.6150. Approximately 233,076 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 1,032,345 shares. The stock had previously closed at $84.51.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on STNG. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Scorpio Tankers from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Bank of America restated an "underperform" rating on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a report on Tuesday, September 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $86.00 target price on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a research note on Monday, September 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $91.57.

Scorpio Tankers Stock Up 3.1%

The firm has a market cap of $4.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.44 and a beta of -0.17. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $80.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 6.93 and a quick ratio of 6.89.

Scorpio Tankers (NYSE:STNG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The shipping company reported $4.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.56 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $408.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $398.25 million. Scorpio Tankers had a return on equity of 16.43% and a net margin of 67.16%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 77.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.41 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Scorpio Tankers Inc. will post 11.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scorpio Tankers Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th were issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Scorpio Tankers's payout ratio is presently 11.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Cameron Mackey sold 125,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.03, for a total transaction of $11,128,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 739,531 shares of the company's stock, valued at $65,840,444.93. This trade represents a 14.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Auste Adelborg sold 6,834 shares of Scorpio Tankers stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total transaction of $612,599.76. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 420,133 shares of company stock worth $36,611,311 over the last three months. 7.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Scorpio Tankers

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in STNG. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Scorpio Tankers by 4.1% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,128,150 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $233,544,000 after buying an additional 122,874 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Scorpio Tankers by 7.6% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 918,223 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $68,555,000 after buying an additional 64,511 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Scorpio Tankers by 20.9% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 240,545 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $17,959,000 after acquiring an additional 41,516 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in Scorpio Tankers by 47.5% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 118,751 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $8,865,000 after acquiring an additional 38,216 shares during the period. Finally, Integrated Advisors Network LLC purchased a new stake in Scorpio Tankers in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,527,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.64% of the company's stock.

Scorpio Tankers Company Profile

Scorpio Tankers Inc is a marine transportation company that owns, leases and operates a fleet of product tankers. The company primarily transports refined petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and heating oil, as well as certain petrochemical products.

Its vessels serve international energy markets by carrying clean petroleum products between refineries, storage terminals and regional distribution centers. Scorpio Tankers operates across major global shipping routes and serves customers in the oil trading, refining and energy industries.

Founded in 2009, Scorpio Tankers became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange in 2010.

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