Short Interest in Diana Shipping inc. (NYSE:DSX) Expands By 26.9%

Diana Shipping inc. (NYSE:DSX) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 2,068,251 shares, a growth of 26.9% from the February 26th total of 1,629,734 shares. Approximately 1.8% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,159,541 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Diana Shipping

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Diana Shipping during the 3rd quarter worth $1,088,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Diana Shipping in the fourth quarter valued at $775,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in Diana Shipping by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,361,713 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,920,000 after buying an additional 246,300 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new stake in Diana Shipping during the 4th quarter worth about $300,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new stake in Diana Shipping during the 3rd quarter worth about $278,000. 48.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Diana Shipping in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Sell rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Sell”.

Diana Shipping Stock Up 5.7%

NYSE DSX traded up $0.14 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $2.50. 428,884 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 849,500. The company has a quick ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market cap of $288.90 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.68 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50 day moving average of $2.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $2.00. Diana Shipping has a 52-week low of $1.27 and a 52-week high of $2.71.

Diana Shipping (NYSE:DSX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, February 14th. The shipping company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Diana Shipping had a return on equity of 3.60% and a net margin of 8.35%.The business had revenue of $52.05 million during the quarter.

Diana Shipping Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $0.01 per share. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 11th. Diana Shipping’s payout ratio is 36.36%.

Diana Shipping Company Profile

Diana Shipping Inc is a global shipping company incorporated in the Republic of the Marshall Islands and headquartered in Athens, Greece. The company specializes in the ownership and operation of dry bulk vessels that transport a variety of commodities, including coal, iron ore, grains, fertilizers, steel products and other bulk materials. Diana Shipping’s fleet comprises Panamax, Capesize, Newcastlemax and Supramax/Newcastlemax segments, enabling it to address the needs of customers on key global trade routes.

The company conducts its operations by chartering vessels on short‐term voyage charters and longer‐term period charters.