Torm (NASDAQ:TRMD) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Hold

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Torm (NASDAQ:TRMD) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday.

Separately, Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of Torm in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.00.

Torm Price Performance

Torm stock opened at $29.10 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $26.65 and a 200-day moving average of $23.21. Torm has a 52-week low of $13.60 and a 52-week high of $31.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.25 and a beta of 0.02.

Torm (NASDAQ:TRMD) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.04. Torm had a net margin of 21.29% and a return on equity of 13.26%. The business had revenue of $352.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $236.21 million. As a group, analysts predict that Torm will post 6.27 EPS for the current year.

Torm Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 12th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 12th. This is a positive change from Torm’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Torm’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.83%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Torm

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TRMD. Fearnley Asset Management AS acquired a new stake in shares of Torm during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,048,000. Virtu Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Torm by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 17,170 shares of the company’s stock worth $336,000 after acquiring an additional 1,076 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Torm by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,106 shares of the company’s stock worth $296,000 after acquiring an additional 2,089 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Torm by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 54,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,082,000 after purchasing an additional 8,595 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in Torm in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,290,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.89% of the company’s stock.

Torm Company Profile

Torm A/S (NASDAQ: TRMD) is an international shipping company specializing in the transportation of refined petroleum products. The firm owns and operates a modern fleet of product tankers, including both Handysize and MR vessels, which are designed to carry a broad range of clean petroleum cargoes such as gasoline, jet fuel and diesel. Torm’s core business revolves around voyage and time-charter contracts with major oil companies, trading houses and other energy sector clients around the world.

The company’s fleet is deployed on global trade routes, with particular focus on major refining and consumption regions in Europe, North America and Asia.