Short Interest in Genco Shipping & Trading Limited (NYSE:GNK) Rises By 13.4%

Genco Shipping & Trading Limited (NYSE:GNK) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 712,600 shares, an increase of 13.4% from the October 15th total of 628,200 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 435,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.6 days. Approximately 1.7% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Genco Shipping & Trading in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $22.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Genco Shipping & Trading from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $26.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of Genco Shipping & Trading in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Genco Shipping & Trading has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.20.

Institutional Trading of Genco Shipping & Trading

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GNK. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its stake in Genco Shipping & Trading by 2.0% in the second quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 31,404 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $669,000 after buying an additional 628 shares during the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC raised its position in Genco Shipping & Trading by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 54,318 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,158,000 after purchasing an additional 682 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Genco Shipping & Trading by 109.5% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,909 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 998 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Genco Shipping & Trading by 12.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,453 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $244,000 after purchasing an additional 1,279 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Genco Shipping & Trading by 7.6% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 18,300 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $390,000 after buying an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. 58.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Genco Shipping & Trading Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of GNK traded down $0.15 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $17.51. The company had a trading volume of 70,577 shares, compared to its average volume of 584,982. Genco Shipping & Trading has a 1 year low of $14.02 and a 1 year high of $23.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $748.69 million, a P/E ratio of 11.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.28 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.49 and a current ratio of 3.09. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.27.

Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE:GNK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The shipping company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41. Genco Shipping & Trading had a net margin of 15.63% and a return on equity of 8.46%. The company had revenue of $99.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.02 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.09) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Genco Shipping & Trading will post 1.74 EPS for the current year.

Genco Shipping & Trading Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 25th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This is a boost from Genco Shipping & Trading’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.14%. Genco Shipping & Trading’s payout ratio is 101.91%.

Genco Shipping & Trading Company Profile

Genco Shipping & Trading Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the ocean transportation of drybulk cargoes worldwide. The company owns and operates dry bulk vessels to transports iron ore, grains, coal, steel products, and other drybulk cargoes. It charters its vessels primarily to trading houses, including commodities traders; producers; and government-owned entities.