Torm (NASDAQ:TRMD) Sets New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Torm Plc (NASDAQ:TRMD)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $23.86 and last traded at $23.7550, with a volume of 119707 shares. The stock had previously closed at $23.33.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Torm in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Fearnley Fonds upgraded Torm from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.00.

Torm Stock Up 0.2%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a current ratio of 2.37. The company has a market cap of $2.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.95 and a beta of 0.04. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.04.

Torm (NASDAQ:TRMD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.17. Torm had a return on equity of 13.03% and a net margin of 21.37%.The firm had revenue of $342.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $258.49 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Torm Plc will post 6.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Torm Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th were issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 20th. This is an increase from Torm’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Torm’s payout ratio is 66.54%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TRMD. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Torm during the second quarter worth $20,998,000. Lind Value II ApS purchased a new position in shares of Torm during the second quarter worth about $7,283,000. Tweedy Browne Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Torm in the 2nd quarter worth about $318,000. Folketrygdfondet purchased a new stake in Torm during the third quarter valued at about $1,796,000. Finally, Commons Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Torm during the 2nd quarter valued at $450,000. 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.