Torm Plc (NASDAQ:TRMD) Short Interest Up 174.3% in March

Key Points

• Short interest surged 174.3% in March to 1,300,264 shares (about 1.4% of shares outstanding), leaving a short-interest ratio of roughly 0.9 days based on average daily volume.
• Torm increased its quarterly dividend to $0.70 (annualized $2.80), implying a roughly 10.0% yield with an ex-dividend date of March 12.
• The company beat quarterly estimates with $0.87 EPS and $347.6M in revenue, while Wall Street's consensus rating is a Hold with an average price target of $34.00.

Torm Plc (NASDAQ:TRMD - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 1,300,264 shares, a growth of 174.3% from the February 26th total of 474,084 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,481,332 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.9 days. Approximately 1.4% of the shares of the company are short sold. Approximately 1.4% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,481,332 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.9 days.

Institutional Trading of Torm

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP bought a new position in Torm in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC purchased a new position in shares of Torm during the 2nd quarter valued at $46,000. Wexford Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Torm in the third quarter worth $120,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Torm in the fourth quarter worth $121,000. Finally, Virtus Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Torm by 356.4% in the fourth quarter. Virtus Advisers LLC now owns 9,858 shares of the company's stock worth $193,000 after buying an additional 7,698 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.89% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TRMD has been the subject of several recent research reports. Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of Torm in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Torm from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $34.00.

Torm Stock Performance

NASDAQ:TRMD opened at $28.13 on Wednesday. The business's fifty day moving average is $25.80 and its 200 day moving average is $22.92. The firm has a market cap of $2.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.90 and a beta of -0.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.33. Torm has a 52-week low of $13.60 and a 52-week high of $31.76.

Torm (NASDAQ:TRMD - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.04. Torm had a return on equity of 13.26% and a net margin of 21.29%.The business had revenue of $347.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $236.21 million. Research analysts predict that Torm will post 6.27 EPS for the current year.

Torm Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This is an increase from Torm's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 12th. Torm's dividend payout ratio is presently 71.83%.

Torm Company Profile

Torm A/S NASDAQ: TRMD is an international shipping company specializing in the transportation of refined petroleum products. The firm owns and operates a modern fleet of product tankers, including both Handysize and MR vessels, which are designed to carry a broad range of clean petroleum cargoes such as gasoline, jet fuel and diesel. Torm's core business revolves around voyage and time-charter contracts with major oil companies, trading houses and other energy sector clients around the world.

The company's fleet is deployed on global trade routes, with particular focus on major refining and consumption regions in Europe, North America and Asia.

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