Torm Plc (NASDAQ:TRMD) Short Interest Up 49.7% in July

Torm Plc (NASDAQ:TRMD) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totaling 981,779 shares, an increase of 49.7% from the July 15th total of 655,620 shares. Currently, 1.0% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 421,472 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TRMD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded Torm from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 9th. Pareto Securities downgraded Torm from a “hold” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $37.00 price target on shares of Torm in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Torm in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. One investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Torm news, CEO Jacob Balslev Meldgaard sold 170,133 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.30, for a total value of $5,495,295.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 348,411 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,253,675.30. This represents a 32.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TRMD. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Torm during the 4th quarter worth $24,830,000. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Torm in the second quarter worth about $7,523,000. Sei Investments Co. bought a new position in shares of Torm in the first quarter worth about $7,705,000. Marnell Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Torm during the 4th quarter worth about $4,815,000. Finally, Fearnley Asset Management AS bought a new stake in Torm during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,048,000. Institutional investors own 73.89% of the company’s stock.

Torm Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TRMD traded down $0.39 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $30.23. The stock had a trading volume of 65,165 shares, compared to its average volume of 771,604. Torm has a 52 week low of $19.30 and a 52 week high of $35.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.89 and a beta of 0.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.84.

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.