Okeanis Eco Tankers (NYSE:ECO) Stock Rating Cut to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research downgraded shares of Okeanis Eco Tankers (NYSE:ECO) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Monday,Zacks reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on ECO. Wall Street Zen upgraded Okeanis Eco Tankers from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Okeanis Eco Tankers from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Finally, B. Riley Financial lifted their price target on Okeanis Eco Tankers from $75.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $67.85.

Okeanis Eco Tankers Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of NYSE ECO opened at $86.95 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 4.43 and a quick ratio of 4.13. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $70.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.11 and a beta of -0.19. Okeanis Eco Tankers has a 1 year low of $27.74 and a 1 year high of $90.64.

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

Okeanis Eco Tankers Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th were issued a dividend of $5.25 per share. This represents a $21.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 24.2%. This is a boost from Okeanis Eco Tankers’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. Okeanis Eco Tankers’s payout ratio is currently 195.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Okeanis Eco Tankers news, Director Financial Lp Qvt sold 68,420 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.99, for a total transaction of $4,104,515.80. Following the sale, the director 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Institutional Trading of Okeanis Eco Tankers

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ECO. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Okeanis Eco Tankers in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,416,000. Fearnley Asset Management AS bought a new stake in Okeanis Eco Tankers in the fourth quarter valued at $18,696,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Okeanis Eco Tankers by 96.7% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 278,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,079,000 after purchasing an additional 136,782 shares in the last quarter. Walleye Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Okeanis Eco Tankers by 71.9% during the 1st quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 177,417 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,976,000 after acquiring an additional 74,231 shares during the period. Finally, Militia Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Okeanis Eco Tankers in the first quarter worth $3,541,000.

Okeanis Eco Tankers Company Profile

Okeanis Eco Tankers Corp. is a maritime transportation company that owns and operates a fleet of modern, fuel-efficient crude oil tankers. The company focuses primarily on large crude carriers, including very large crude carriers (VLCCs) and Suezmax tankers, which transport crude oil between major production and refining regions around the world.

Through its vessels and associated commercial and technical management activities, Okeanis Eco Tankers provides seaborne transportation services to customers in the global energy industry.