Teekay Tankers Ltd. (NYSE:TNK) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Teekay Tankers Ltd. (NYSE:TNK) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totaling 1,163,260 shares, an increase of 51.9% from the August 31st total of 765,596 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 568,865 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days. Approximately 3.4% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Heidi Locke Simon sold 741 shares of Teekay Tankers stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $66,690.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,000 shares in the company, valued at $360,000. This trade represents a 15.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David Schellenberg sold 7,344 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $734,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,344 shares in the company, valued at approximately $734,400. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 14,561 shares of company stock worth $1,380,350 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its holdings in shares of Teekay Tankers by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 55,028 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,570,000 after purchasing an additional 786 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in Teekay Tankers during the second quarter worth about $28,000. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in Teekay Tankers by 672.0% during the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,212 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 1,055 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in Teekay Tankers during the second quarter worth approximately $356,000. Finally, NEOS Investment Management LLC increased its position in Teekay Tankers by 41.4% during the second quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 255,652 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $16,584,000 after buying an additional 74,894 shares during the last quarter. 52.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Teekay Tankers Trading Up 1.8%

NYSE TNK opened at $98.76 on Thursday. Teekay Tankers has a 12 month low of $47.18 and a 12 month high of $103.16. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $88.49 and a 200-day moving average of $78.78. The company has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a PE ratio of 5.79 and a beta of -0.19.

Teekay Tankers (NYSE:TNK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The shipping company reported $5.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.61 by ($0.05). Teekay Tankers had a return on equity of 22.11% and a net margin of 51.35%.The firm had revenue of $258.26 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $299.03 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.41 earnings per share. Teekay Tankers’s quarterly revenue was up 32.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Teekay Tankers will post 15.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Teekay Tankers Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 10th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 10th. Teekay Tankers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on TNK. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Teekay Tankers in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Zacks Research cut shares of Teekay Tankers from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Wall Street Zen cut Teekay Tankers from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, August 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Teekay Tankers from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $77.00.

About Teekay Tankers

Teekay Tankers Ltd. (NYSE: TNK) is a marine transportation company focused on the international shipment of crude oil and refined petroleum products. The company owns and operates a fleet of conventional and specialized tankers that transport energy commodities for oil companies, refiners, commodity traders and other customers.

Its fleet has included crude oil tankers in segments such as Aframax and Suezmax, as well as product tankers used to carry refined fuels. Teekay Tankers generates revenue through vessel chartering arrangements and commercial pool and voyage activities, serving routes across major global oil-trading regions.

Teekay Tankers was established in 2007 as part of the Teekay group and is affiliated with Teekay Corporation, a marine energy transportation company.