W&T Offshore (NYSE:WTI) Trading Up 7.1% – What’s Next?

W&T Offshore, Inc. (NYSE:WTI)’s stock price shot up 7.1% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $4.17 and last traded at $4.1650. 4,479,238 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 33% from the average session volume of 6,661,996 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.89.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on WTI shares. Zacks Research downgraded shares of W&T Offshore from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded W&T Offshore from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. William Blair started coverage on W&T Offshore in a research report on Friday, April 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of W&T Offshore in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold”.

W&T Offshore Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $3.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $2.42. The company has a market cap of $617.59 million, a P/E ratio of -4.44 and a beta of 0.29.

W&T Offshore (NYSE:WTI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.15) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by ($0.17). The business had revenue of $150.02 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $138.41 million. As a group, analysts forecast that W&T Offshore, Inc. will post -0.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W&T Offshore Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.01 per share. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. W&T Offshore’s dividend payout ratio is -4.21%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W&T Offshore

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WTI. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W&T Offshore by 309.7% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 120,911 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $187,000 after purchasing an additional 91,400 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in W&T Offshore by 24.2% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,071,610 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,761,000 after acquiring an additional 598,614 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its stake in W&T Offshore by 826.2% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 324,807 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $503,000 after purchasing an additional 289,739 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in W&T Offshore by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,341,646 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,864,000 after purchasing an additional 52,982 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning raised its stake in shares of W&T Offshore by 42.3% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 42,885 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 12,749 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.88% of the company’s stock.

W&T Offshore Company Profile

W&T Offshore, Inc is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company focused primarily on offshore operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The company acquires, develops and produces crude oil and natural gas reserves, operating a portfolio of producing properties that encompasses both shallow-water and deepwater assets. W&T Offshore leverages its technical expertise and asset management capabilities to optimize field development and production efficiency across its portfolio.

Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Covington, Louisiana, W&T Offshore has built a track record of disciplined growth through strategic acquisitions and targeted exploration activities.