Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) Stock Falls 7.2% – Time to Sell?

Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE:NAT)’s share price fell 7.2% on Wednesday. The stock traded as low as $8.40 and last traded at $8.1550. 826,956 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 4,276,120 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.79.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NAT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. B. Riley Financial increased their price objective on Nordic American Tankers from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Weiss Ratings raised Nordic American Tankers from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Nordic American Tankers from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $6.00.

Nordic American Tankers Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.66 billion, a PE ratio of 13.25 and a beta of -0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 3.27 and a quick ratio of 3.05. The business’s 50 day moving average is $7.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $6.40.

Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 27th. The shipping company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $79.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.18 million. Nordic American Tankers had a net margin of 47.04% and a return on equity of 20.58%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Nordic American Tankers Limited will post 0.60 EPS for the current year.

Nordic American Tankers Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 10th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is an increase from Nordic American Tankers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 10th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.8%. Nordic American Tankers’s dividend payout ratio is 183.05%.

Institutional Trading of Nordic American Tankers

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NAT. Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its stake in Nordic American Tankers by 332.6% in the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 3,764 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 2,894 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Nordic American Tankers by 184.0% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,306 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 3,438 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in Nordic American Tankers during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nordic American Tankers in the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nordic American Tankers in the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. 44.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Nordic American Tankers Company Profile

Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE: NAT) is a Bermuda-based international shipping company that owns and operates crude oil tankers. The company’s fleet is focused primarily on Suezmax vessels, which are designed to transport large quantities of crude oil and are sized to transit the Suez Canal.

Nordic American Tankers employs a combination of voyage charters, time charters and other commercial arrangements to provide crude oil transportation services to customers in the global energy industry.