Scorpio Tankers (NYSE:STNG) Reaches New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Shares of Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE:STNG) reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $71.71 and last traded at $70.4960, with a volume of 80206 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $70.02.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on STNG. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $83.00 target price on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a report on Friday. B. Riley Financial reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a research report on Friday. Moffett Nathanson raised shares of Scorpio Tankers to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $83.00 price objective on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a research note on Friday. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Scorpio Tankers presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.67.

Scorpio Tankers Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 9.33 and a quick ratio of 9.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.61 billion, a PE ratio of 9.97 and a beta of -0.25. The business’s 50 day moving average is $57.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.52.

Scorpio Tankers (NYSE:STNG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The shipping company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.25. Scorpio Tankers had a net margin of 36.70% and a return on equity of 8.85%. The company had revenue of $252.65 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.93 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.63 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Scorpio Tankers Inc. will post 5.29 EPS for the current year.

Scorpio Tankers Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This is an increase from Scorpio Tankers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. Scorpio Tankers’s payout ratio is currently 25.46%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Scorpio Tankers

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in STNG. Marex Group plc purchased a new position in shares of Scorpio Tankers during the second quarter valued at about $901,000. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in Scorpio Tankers by 234.1% during the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 38,524 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $2,159,000 after buying an additional 26,994 shares during the last quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Scorpio Tankers by 84.5% in the 3rd quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 120,862 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $6,774,000 after purchasing an additional 55,360 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Scorpio Tankers during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,242,000. Finally, Boston Partners raised its holdings in Scorpio Tankers by 135.9% in the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 125,435 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $4,908,000 after buying an additional 72,258 shares during the last quarter. 54.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Scorpio Tankers

Scorpio Tankers Inc (NYSE: STNG) is an independent provider of marine transportation services, specializing in the carriage of refined petroleum products. The company’s core operations focus on moving clean petroleum cargoes—such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and naphtha—on a global scale. By catering to both spot and time charter markets, Scorpio Tankers enables energy companies, refiners and traders to manage their supply chains with flexibility and reliability.

The company’s fleet is composed of modern, eco-designed product tankers, including medium range (MR) and long range (LR) vessels.