Okeanis Eco Tankers Corp. (NYSE:ECO) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Okeanis Eco Tankers Corp. (NYSE:ECO) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $59.5167.

ECO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Clarkson Capital downgraded Okeanis Eco Tankers from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Okeanis Eco Tankers from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen raised Okeanis Eco Tankers from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. B. Riley Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Okeanis Eco Tankers from $55.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Okeanis Eco Tankers from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th.

Okeanis Eco Tankers Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECO opened at $64.56 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $56.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.02 and a beta of -0.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 4.43 and a quick ratio of 4.13. Okeanis Eco Tankers has a 12 month low of $26.09 and a 12 month high of $66.25.

Okeanis Eco Tankers (NYSE:ECO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $5.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.61 by $1.30. Okeanis Eco Tankers had a return on equity of 62.06% and a net margin of 56.92%.The business had revenue of $268.14 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $220.28 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Okeanis Eco Tankers will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Okeanis Eco Tankers Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th were given a dividend of $5.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 14th. This is an increase from Okeanis Eco Tankers’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.00. This represents a $21.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 32.5%. Okeanis Eco Tankers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 195.90%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Financial Lp Qvt sold 68,420 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.99, for a total value of $4,104,515.80. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,347,038 shares in the company, valued at $80,808,809.62. This represents a 4.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ECO. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Okeanis Eco Tankers during the fourth quarter worth $27,416,000. Fearnley Asset Management AS acquired a new position in shares of Okeanis Eco Tankers in the fourth quarter worth $18,696,000. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Okeanis Eco Tankers in the fourth quarter valued at $10,911,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Okeanis Eco Tankers in the fourth quarter valued at $5,222,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Okeanis Eco Tankers by 96.7% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 278,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,079,000 after acquiring an additional 136,782 shares during the last quarter.

About Okeanis Eco Tankers

Okeanis Eco Tankers Corp. is a Marshall Islands–incorporated, publicly traded shipping company specializing in the ownership and operation of eco-design product tankers. The company made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “ECO” in May 2019 following an initial public offering. It focuses on the acquisition of newbuilding medium-range (MR) and long-range (LR) product tankers designed to deliver enhanced fuel efficiency and reduced emissions.

As of its public listing, Okeanis Eco Tankers’ fleet comprises twelve eco-efficient vessels built by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries in South Korea.