TORM plc (NASDAQ:TRMD) Short Interest Up 40.0% in October

TORM plc (NASDAQ:TRMD) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,730,000 shares, a growth of 40.0% from the October 15th total of 1,950,000 shares. Currently, 5.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 979,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TRMD has been the topic of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of TORM from $37.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Fearnley Fonds raised TORM to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on TORM from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd.

TORM Stock Down 3.3 %

NASDAQ TRMD traded down $0.78 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $22.85. 1,646,907 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 777,752. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.64. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. TORM has a 1-year low of $22.72 and a 1-year high of $40.47.

TORM (NASDAQ:TRMD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.03. TORM had a net margin of 43.81% and a return on equity of 34.45%. The company had revenue of $437.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $325.38 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.14 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that TORM will post 6.41 earnings per share for the current year.

TORM Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.876 dividend. This represents a $3.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 15.33%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. TORM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.05%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in TORM by 0.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 81,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,791,000 after acquiring an additional 505 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in shares of TORM by 76.9% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,187 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 516 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI bought a new position in shares of TORM in the second quarter worth $26,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in TORM by 7.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 11,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $433,000 after acquiring an additional 811 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in TORM by 12.4% in the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 9,338 shares of the company’s stock valued at $365,000 after purchasing an additional 1,030 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.89% of the company’s stock.

TORM Company Profile

TORM plc, a shipping company, owns and operates a fleet of product tankers in the United Kingdom. It operates in two operating segments, Tanker and Marine Exhaust. The Tanker segment transports refined oil products, such as gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, naphtha, and gas oil, as well as dirty petroleum products, including fuel oil.