Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) Share Price Breaks Below Fifty Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE:NAT) passed below its 50 day moving average during trading on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $7.70 and traded as low as $7.22. Nordic American Tankers shares last traded at $7.3050, with a volume of 5,387,202 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Nordic American Tankers from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 3rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Nordic American Tankers from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. B. Riley Financial upped their price target on shares of Nordic American Tankers from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $7.00 price target on shares of Nordic American Tankers in a research note on Tuesday, October 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $6.83.

Nordic American Tankers Stock Down 7.6%

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $7.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $6.09. The company has a quick ratio of 3.05, a current ratio of 3.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market cap of $1.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.38 and a beta of -0.56.

Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 27th. The shipping company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $79.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.18 million. Nordic American Tankers had a return on equity of 20.58% and a net margin of 47.04%. As a group, analysts predict that Nordic American Tankers Limited will post 0.60 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nordic American Tankers Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 10th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 10th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 14.8%. This is an increase from Nordic American Tankers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Nordic American Tankers’s dividend payout ratio is presently 183.05%.

Institutional Trading of Nordic American Tankers

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NAT. VestGen Advisors LLC increased its position in Nordic American Tankers by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. VestGen Advisors LLC now owns 15,751 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $124,000 after purchasing an additional 1,689 shares in the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its holdings in Nordic American Tankers by 332.6% in the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 3,764 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 2,894 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Nordic American Tankers by 8.5% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 39,024 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $308,000 after buying an additional 3,054 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in Nordic American Tankers by 0.6% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 490,638 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,876,000 after buying an additional 3,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Nordic American Tankers by 184.0% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,306 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 3,438 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 44.29% of the company’s stock.

About Nordic American Tankers

Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE:NAT) is a shipping company focused on the international transportation of crude oil. The company owns and operates Suezmax tankers, a class of vessels designed to carry large volumes of crude oil while remaining within the size limits of the Suez Canal.

Nordic American Tankers’ vessels serve global crude-oil markets and transport cargoes between major producing and consuming regions. The company’s operations are influenced by international seaborne trade, vessel chartering conditions, and demand for crude-oil transportation.

Founded in 1995, Nordic American Tankers is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda, and has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange since that year.