TORM plc (NASDAQ:TRMD) Short Interest Update

TORM plc (NASDAQ:TRMD - Get Free Report) saw a significant decrease in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,620,000 shares, a decrease of 19.2% from the April 30th total of 4,480,000 shares. Approximately 6.3% of the company's shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 899,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.0 days.

Institutional Trading of TORM

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TRMD. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in TORM by 94.0% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,366,769 shares of the company's stock valued at $84,585,000 after purchasing an additional 2,115,672 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in TORM during the 4th quarter valued at about $21,273,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in TORM by 439.0% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 430,399 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,371,000 after purchasing an additional 350,555 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in TORM by 22.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,885,040 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,417,000 after purchasing an additional 345,463 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC increased its stake in TORM by 353.5% during the 4th quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 187,998 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,613,000 after purchasing an additional 262,149 shares in the last quarter. 73.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

TORM Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of TORM stock traded up $0.12 during trading on Thursday, hitting $16.63. The company's stock had a trading volume of 504,132 shares, compared to its average volume of 953,140. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a current ratio of 2.47. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.46. The company has a market capitalization of $1.56 billion, a PE ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.12. TORM has a 52 week low of $13.60 and a 52 week high of $40.47.

TORM (NASDAQ:TRMD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.64 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $214.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $244.25 million. TORM had a return on equity of 34.45% and a net margin of 43.81%. Equities research analysts predict that TORM will post 6.27 earnings per share for the current year.

TORM Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.62%. TORM's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on TRMD shares. Kepler Capital Markets downgraded shares of TORM from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Pareto Securities raised shares of TORM from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Fearnley Fonds raised shares of TORM from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of TORM from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $27.50.

About TORM

TORM plc, a shipping company, owns and operates a fleet of product tankers in the United Kingdom. It operates in two operating segments, Tanker and Marine Exhaust. The Tanker segment transports refined oil products, such as gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, naphtha, and gas oil, as well as dirty petroleum products, including fuel oil.