Scorpio Tankers Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:STNG)

Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE:STNG) was the target of some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock traders acquired 2,844 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 71% compared to the average daily volume of 1,667 call options.

Institutional Trading of Scorpio Tankers

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Kestra Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Scorpio Tankers by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,286 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $269,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Scorpio Tankers by 17.4% during the 3rd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,160 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its holdings in Scorpio Tankers by 15.8% in the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 1,418 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. Clearstead Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Scorpio Tankers by 67.9% during the third quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 507 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its holdings in Scorpio Tankers by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 12,131 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $680,000 after buying an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 54.64% of the company’s stock.

Scorpio Tankers Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE STNG traded down $1.16 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $77.92. The company had a trading volume of 1,021,709 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,091,221. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $58.06. The stock has a market cap of $4.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.00 and a beta of -0.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 9.33 and a quick ratio of 9.23. Scorpio Tankers has a 12 month low of $30.63 and a 12 month high of $81.85.

Scorpio Tankers (NYSE:STNG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The shipping company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.25. Scorpio Tankers had a net margin of 36.70% and a return on equity of 8.85%. The business had revenue of $252.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $238.93 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Scorpio Tankers will post 5.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Scorpio Tankers Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th will be given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. This is an increase from Scorpio Tankers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Scorpio Tankers’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on STNG. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $83.00 target price on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a report on Friday, February 13th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Scorpio Tankers from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Scorpio Tankers from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $83.00 target price on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, BTIG Research increased their price target on shares of Scorpio Tankers from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.67.

Scorpio Tankers Company Profile

Scorpio Tankers Inc (NYSE: STNG) is an independent provider of marine transportation services, specializing in the carriage of refined petroleum products. The company’s core operations focus on moving clean petroleum cargoes—such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and naphtha—on a global scale. By catering to both spot and time charter markets, Scorpio Tankers enables energy companies, refiners and traders to manage their supply chains with flexibility and reliability.

The company’s fleet is composed of modern, eco-designed product tankers, including medium range (MR) and long range (LR) vessels.