Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE:STNG) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE:STNG) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $91.57.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Scorpio Tankers from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a report on Tuesday, September 8th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $94.00 price target on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their price objective on shares of Scorpio Tankers from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 18th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Scorpio Tankers

In related news, CFO Christopher Avella sold 56,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.57, for a total transaction of $4,891,205.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 178,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,481,659.38. This represents a 24.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, President Robert Bugbee sold 231,799 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.19, for a total value of $19,978,755.81. Following the completion of the sale, the president owned 665,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $57,341,172.72. This represents a 25.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 420,133 shares of company stock valued at $36,611,311 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 7.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Scorpio Tankers

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of STNG. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Scorpio Tankers by 4.1% during the 1st 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 period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Scorpio Tankers by 7.6% in 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 acquiring an additional 64,511 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Scorpio Tankers by 9.3% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 244,364 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $18,244,000 after acquiring an additional 20,878 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Scorpio Tankers by 20.9% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 240,545 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $17,959,000 after purchasing an additional 41,516 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Scorpio Tankers by 9.8% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 132,975 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $9,928,000 after purchasing an additional 11,829 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.64% of the company’s stock.

Scorpio Tankers Price Performance

STNG stock opened at $81.56 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $79.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $77.71. Scorpio Tankers has a 12-month low of $48.93 and a 12-month high of $90.06. The company has a current ratio of 6.93, a quick ratio of 6.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market cap of $4.11 billion, a PE ratio of 5.09 and a beta of -0.22.

Scorpio Tankers (NYSE:STNG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The shipping company reported $4.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.56 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $408.73 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was up 77.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Scorpio Tankers will post 11.21 EPS for the current year.

Scorpio Tankers Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 31st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Scorpio Tankers’s payout ratio is presently 11.24%.

Scorpio Tankers Company Profile

Scorpio Tankers Inc is a marine transportation company that owns, operates and manages a fleet of product tankers. The company transports refined petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and heating oil, as well as certain petrochemical feedstocks, for energy companies, commodity traders and other commercial customers.

Scorpio Tankers’ fleet has included medium-range, long-range and handymax product tankers, which serve different trade routes and cargo requirements. Its vessels operate internationally, carrying refined petroleum products between major refining, storage and consumption centers across regions including the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

The company was established in 2009 and is headquartered in Monaco.