Nordic American Tankers’ (NAT) Hold Rating Reiterated at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed their hold rating on shares of Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) in a research note published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $4.00 price target on the shipping company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on NAT. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Nordic American Tankers from $4.50 to $4.00 and set an in-line rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. StockNews.com lowered Nordic American Tankers from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th.

Nordic American Tankers Price Performance

NYSE:NAT opened at $3.63 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $3.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $3.89. Nordic American Tankers has a 52-week low of $3.31 and a 52-week high of $4.83. The firm has a market cap of $757.94 million, a P/E ratio of 11.34 and a beta of -0.19.

Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shipping company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.03. Nordic American Tankers had a net margin of 26.35% and a return on equity of 11.56%. The company had revenue of $66.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $54.34 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.13 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Nordic American Tankers will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nordic American Tankers Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.22%. Nordic American Tankers’s dividend payout ratio is 150.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nordic American Tankers

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NAT. TrueMark Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nordic American Tankers in the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,373,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Nordic American Tankers by 40.5% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,499,565 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $13,928,000 after purchasing an additional 1,009,096 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Nordic American Tankers by 122.8% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,291,682 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $5,141,000 after buying an additional 711,973 shares during the period. Prevail Innovative Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Nordic American Tankers in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,443,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Nordic American Tankers by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,606,339 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $46,195,000 after buying an additional 621,588 shares during the period. 44.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Nordic American Tankers

Nordic American Tankers Limited, a tanker company, acquires and charters double-hull tankers in Bermuda and internationally. It operates a fleet of 20 Suezmax crude oil tankers. The company was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.