W&T Offshore (NYSE:WTI) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

W&T Offshore, Inc. (NYSE:WTI) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday. The stock had previously closed at $3.57, but opened at $3.69. W&T Offshore shares last traded at $3.6650, with a volume of 430,033 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on WTI shares. Roth Capital set a $4.25 target price on W&T Offshore in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of W&T Offshore in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut W&T Offshore from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $4.25.

W&T Offshore Stock Down 2.0%

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $3.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $547.17 million, a PE ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 0.35.

W&T Offshore (NYSE:WTI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.04 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $162.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.46 million. Equities research analysts forecast that W&T Offshore, Inc. will post -0.10 EPS for the current year.

W&T Offshore Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were issued a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. W&T Offshore’s dividend payout ratio is presently -5.48%.

Institutional Trading of W&T Offshore

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of W&T Offshore in the second quarter worth approximately $26,065,000. Algert Global LLC grew its position in W&T Offshore by 185.8% during the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 1,589,137 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $5,006,000 after purchasing an additional 1,033,167 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in W&T Offshore during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,592,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in W&T Offshore in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,353,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in W&T Offshore by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 649,490 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,215,000 after buying an additional 26,262 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.88% of the company’s stock.

About W&T Offshore

W&T Offshore, Inc is an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company focused on offshore properties in the Gulf of Mexico. The company explores for, develops, and produces crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids from assets located primarily in federal waters.

W&T Offshore operates across shallow-water shelf and deepwater areas of the Gulf of Mexico. Its activities include acquiring prospective acreage, drilling and completing wells, managing production operations, and developing existing fields and discoveries.