Persistent Asset Partners Ltd Takes $599,000 Position in Torm Plc $TRMD

Persistent Asset Partners Ltd purchased a new stake in Torm Plc (NASDAQ:TRMD) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 30,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $599,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH grew its stake in shares of Torm by 275.8% in the 4th quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 91,286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,785,000 after buying an additional 66,992 shares during the period. Journey Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Torm in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,920,000. Tweedy Browne Co LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Torm by 109.5% in the 3rd quarter. Tweedy Browne Co LLC now owns 40,007 shares of the company’s stock worth $825,000 after acquiring an additional 20,914 shares during the last quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. lifted its holdings in shares of Torm by 309.3% in the 3rd quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 41,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $854,000 after acquiring an additional 31,316 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of Torm in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $496,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.89% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on TRMD. Pareto Securities lowered shares of Torm from a “hold” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Torm from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Evercore set a $35.00 price objective on shares of Torm in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Torm in a report on Friday, April 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Torm has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.00.

Insider Transactions at Torm

In other Torm news, CEO Jacob Balslev Meldgaard sold 170,133 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.30, for a total transaction of $5,495,295.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 348,411 shares in the company, valued at $11,253,675.30. This represents a 32.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Torm Stock Performance

Shares of TRMD stock opened at $29.72 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $30.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.40. Torm Plc has a one year low of $16.36 and a one year high of $35.33. The firm has a market cap of $3.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.74 and a beta of 0.08.

Torm (NASDAQ:TRMD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.33 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $402.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $297.43 million. Torm had a return on equity of 15.81% and a net margin of 24.45%.

Torm Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 28th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 28th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.4%. Torm’s dividend payout ratio is 60.00%.

About Torm

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.