Genco Shipping & Trading Limited (NYSE:GNK) Short Interest Down 6.7% in December

Genco Shipping & Trading Limited (NYSE:GNK) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 775,500 shares, a decrease of 6.7% from the December 15th total of 830,900 shares. Currently, 1.9% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 462,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Genco Shipping & Trading

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in Genco Shipping & Trading in the 2nd quarter valued at $82,000. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in shares of Genco Shipping & Trading by 535.8% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 4,266 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 3,595 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Genco Shipping & Trading by 830.3% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,033 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $154,000 after buying an additional 9,847 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of Genco Shipping & Trading during the second quarter worth about $178,000. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Genco Shipping & Trading by 26.8% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 14,190 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $198,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.62% of the company’s stock.

Genco Shipping & Trading Trading Up 0.9 %

Genco Shipping & Trading stock traded up $0.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $14.40. The stock had a trading volume of 450,764 shares, compared to its average volume of 366,285. The stock has a market capitalization of $615.53 million, a PE ratio of 9.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 0.99. Genco Shipping & Trading has a 12 month low of $13.51 and a 12 month high of $23.43. The company has a current ratio of 3.09, a quick ratio of 2.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.07.

Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE:GNK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The shipping company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.41. Genco Shipping & Trading had a return on equity of 8.46% and a net margin of 15.63%. The business had revenue of $99.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.02 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.09) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Genco Shipping & Trading will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

Genco Shipping & Trading Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 25th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This is an increase from Genco Shipping & Trading’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Genco Shipping & Trading’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.91%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on GNK shares. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of Genco Shipping & Trading in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Genco Shipping & Trading from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $26.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Genco Shipping & Trading from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Genco Shipping & Trading presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.20.

About Genco Shipping & Trading

Genco Shipping & Trading Ltd. is an international ship owning company, which engages in the transportation of iron ore, coal, grain, steel products, and other drybulk cargoes. The company was founded on September 27, 2004 and is headquartered in New York, NY.