KNOT Offshore Partners (NYSE:KNOP) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of KNOT Offshore Partners (NYSE:KNOP) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning.

KNOP has been the topic of several other reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of KNOT Offshore Partners from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of KNOT Offshore Partners in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Fearnley Fonds upgraded KNOT Offshore Partners from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.00.

KNOT Offshore Partners Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of KNOT Offshore Partners stock opened at $10.66 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $358.82 million, a P/E ratio of 19.74 and a beta of -0.05. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.50. KNOT Offshore Partners has a 12-month low of $6.90 and a 12-month high of $11.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93.

KNOT Offshore Partners (NYSE:KNOP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 28th. The shipping company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.09). KNOT Offshore Partners had a return on equity of 6.36% and a net margin of 4.92%.The firm had revenue of $92.01 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.35 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that KNOT Offshore Partners will post 0.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KNOT Offshore Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 13th. Investors of record on Monday, July 27th will be issued a $0.075 dividend. This is an increase from KNOT Offshore Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 27th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. KNOT Offshore Partners’s payout ratio is presently 55.56%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Trygve Seglem purchased 1,250,000 shares of KNOT Offshore Partners stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was bought at an average price of $20.00 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,458,333 shares in the company, valued at $29,166,660. This represents a 600.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada purchased a new position in KNOT Offshore Partners in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in KNOT Offshore Partners by 8.8% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,335,435 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $13,461,000 after buying an additional 108,400 shares during the last quarter. Walleye Capital LLC purchased a new stake in KNOT Offshore Partners in the first quarter worth $259,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new stake in KNOT Offshore Partners in the first quarter worth $643,000. Finally, Alpine Global Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of KNOT Offshore Partners in the fourth quarter valued at $1,294,000. 26.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About KNOT Offshore Partners

KNOT Offshore Partners LP is a publicly traded limited partnership formed in 2013 to own and operate shuttle tankers under long‐term charters in the offshore oil industry. Listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol KNOP, the partnership specializes in the transportation of crude oil from offshore production facilities to onshore refineries. Its fleet comprises moderne shuttle tankers equipped with dynamic positioning systems, enabling safe transfer operations in harsh weather and sea conditions.

The partnership’s vessels primarily serve fields in the North Sea, Brazil and West Africa, where they operate under multi‐year contracts with major energy producers.