Short Interest in TORM plc (NASDAQ:TRMD) Decreases By 17.7%

TORM plc (NASDAQ:TRMD) was the target of a large decline in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,950,000 shares, a decline of 17.7% from the September 30th total of 2,370,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 831,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days. Approximately 3.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TORM

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in TORM by 860.9% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,429,989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,441,000 after purchasing an additional 1,281,176 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in TORM by 320.5% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,265,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,189,000 after purchasing an additional 964,801 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in TORM by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,179,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,221,000 after purchasing an additional 85,937 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in TORM by 38.9% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 669,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,945,000 after purchasing an additional 187,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in TORM by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 355,151 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,769,000 after purchasing an additional 8,185 shares during the last quarter. 73.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of TORM from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Fearnley Fonds upgraded shares of TORM to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th.

TORM Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TRMD opened at $26.61 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $33.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.94 and a current ratio of 3.18. TORM has a 12-month low of $26.10 and a 12-month high of $40.47.

TORM (NASDAQ:TRMD) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $437.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $325.38 million. TORM had a net margin of 43.81% and a return on equity of 36.06%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.14 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that TORM will post 7.12 EPS for the current year.

TORM Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 29th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 27.06%. This is an increase from TORM’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 29th. TORM’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.44%.

TORM Company Profile

TORM plc, a shipping company, owns and operates a fleet of product tankers in the United Kingdom. It operates in two operating segments, Tanker and Marine Exhaust. The Tanker segment transports refined oil products, such as gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, naphtha, and gas oil, as well as dirty petroleum products, including fuel oil.