Nordic American Tankers Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:NAT)

Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE:NAT) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders purchased 4,186 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 95% compared to the average daily volume of 2,145 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Wall Street Zen downgraded Nordic American Tankers from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $4.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nordic American Tankers

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Nordic American Tankers by 3.9% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 12,189,811 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $71,430,000 after acquiring an additional 460,555 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Nordic American Tankers during the 1st quarter valued at $4,377,000. Simcoe Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nordic American Tankers during the 4th quarter valued at $3,522,000. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of Nordic American Tankers by 384.2% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 130,281 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $763,000 after purchasing an additional 103,374 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its stake in shares of Nordic American Tankers by 44.5% in the 2nd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 241,337 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,337,000 after purchasing an additional 74,358 shares in the last quarter. 44.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Nordic American Tankers Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of NYSE:NAT traded up $0.16 during trading on Friday, reaching $7.15. 717,141 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,099,213. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $6.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $5.67. Nordic American Tankers has a 52-week low of $2.96 and a 52-week high of $7.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a current ratio of 3.00. The stock has a market cap of $1.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.48 and a beta of -0.57.

Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The shipping company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.01. Nordic American Tankers had a net margin of 24.19% and a return on equity of 9.16%. The company had revenue of $77.51 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.86 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Nordic American Tankers will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nordic American Tankers Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 10th. This is an increase from Nordic American Tankers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.3%. Nordic American Tankers’s dividend payout ratio is currently 325.93%.

About Nordic American Tankers

Nordic American Tankers Limited is a Bermuda-based shipping company specializing in the ownership and operation of Suezmax crude oil tankers. The company’s fleet is employed on the spot and period charter markets, transporting crude oil across major global trade routes. By focusing on commercially flexible employment strategies, Nordic American Tankers seeks to optimize vessel utilization and generate stable income for shareholders.

Founded in 1995 and headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda, Nordic American Tankers maintains technical and commercial management arrangements through established ship-management partners.