Traders Purchase Large Volume of International Seaways Call Options (NYSE:INSW)

International Seaways Inc. (NYSE:INSW) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Investors bought 4,772 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 199% compared to the typical volume of 1,595 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

INSW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of International Seaways from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of International Seaways from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of International Seaways from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of International Seaways in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Pareto Securities cut International Seaways from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.00.

International Seaways Stock Up 1.9%

NYSE INSW traded up $1.67 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $87.84. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 182,330 shares, compared to its average volume of 588,021. The company has a current ratio of 7.34, a quick ratio of 7.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.35 billion, a PE ratio of 8.02 and a beta of -0.12. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $83.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $71.97. International Seaways has a 1-year low of $37.93 and a 1-year high of $92.66.

International Seaways (NYSE:INSW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The transportation company reported $3.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.87 by $1.03. The company had revenue of $325.48 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $279.34 million. International Seaways had a net margin of 55.39% and a return on equity of 21.04%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 77.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that International Seaways will post 14.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

International Seaways Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. International Seaways’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP William F. Nugent sold 6,830 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.23, for a total value of $582,120.90. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 49,169 shares in the company, valued at $4,190,673.87. This represents a 12.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Lois K. Zabrocky sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.08, for a total value of $2,202,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 181,745 shares in the company, valued at $16,008,099.60. This represents a 12.09% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 45,530 shares of company stock worth $3,923,635. Insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On International Seaways

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of International Seaways by 167.6% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 608,265 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $44,330,000 after acquiring an additional 380,931 shares in the last quarter. Amundi acquired a new position in shares of International Seaways during the 4th quarter valued at about $13,663,000. Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV bought a new position in shares of International Seaways in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $13,145,000. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL bought a new position in shares of International Seaways in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $7,087,000. Finally, Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC raised its stake in shares of International Seaways by 105.2% in the 2nd quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 270,386 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $9,864,000 after acquiring an additional 138,625 shares in the last quarter. 67.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

International Seaways Company Profile

International Seaways, Inc (NYSE: INSW) is an independent tanker company that provides seaborne transportation services to oil companies, commodity traders and national oil companies. The firm’s operations focus on the carriage of crude oil and refined petroleum products, offering both time­ charter and voyage­ charter arrangements. With a modern fleet of very large crude carriers (VLCCs), Suezmax and Aframax tankers, as well as medium range (MR) and Handy product tankers, International Seaways supports global energy supply chains across major trade routes.

Founded in 1997 as Diamond S Shipping, the company completed its initial public offering in the late 1990s and rebranded to International Seaways in September 2018.