Teekay Tankers Ltd. (NYSE:TNK) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Teekay Tankers Ltd. (NYSE:TNK - Get Free Report) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 642,600 shares, an increase of 23.7% from the March 15th total of 519,400 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 482,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.3 days. Currently, 2.7% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TNK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Teekay Tankers from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Teekay Tankers in a report on Thursday, February 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Teekay Tankers has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $50.67.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Teekay Tankers

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Teekay Tankers by 0.8% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 38,123 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $1,459,000 after buying an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in Teekay Tankers by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 4,219 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $168,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in Teekay Tankers by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 13,653 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $543,000 after acquiring an additional 494 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Teekay Tankers by 49.3% during the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,720 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 568 shares during the period. Finally, Kendall Capital Management lifted its holdings in Teekay Tankers by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Kendall Capital Management now owns 17,965 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $715,000 after purchasing an additional 580 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.67% of the company's stock.

Teekay Tankers Trading Up 3.8 %

Teekay Tankers stock traded up $1.53 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $42.27. The company had a trading volume of 220,876 shares, compared to its average volume of 483,383. The company has a market capitalization of $1.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.73 and a beta of -0.16. Teekay Tankers has a 12-month low of $33.35 and a 12-month high of $74.20. The company's fifty day moving average is $38.25 and its 200-day moving average is $42.00.

Teekay Tankers (NYSE:TNK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The shipping company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.01. Teekay Tankers had a net margin of 34.55% and a return on equity of 20.67%. The firm had revenue of $163.42 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $158.26 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Teekay Tankers will post 7.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Teekay Tankers Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Teekay Tankers's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.83%.

About Teekay Tankers

Teekay Tankers Ltd. provides crude oil and other marine transportation services to oil industries in Bermuda and internationally. The company offers voyage and time charter services; offshore ship-to-ship transfer services of commodities primarily crude oil and refined oil products; and tanker commercial and technical management services.