Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE:GNK) Earns “Buy” Rating from Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group reissued their buy rating on shares of Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE:GNK) in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a $25.00 target price on the shipping company’s stock.

GNK has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Genco Shipping & Trading in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $22.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut Genco Shipping & Trading from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $26.00 to $17.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Genco Shipping & Trading has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.20.

Genco Shipping & Trading Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of GNK traded down $0.12 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $17.43. The stock had a trading volume of 476,474 shares, compared to its average volume of 440,628. The firm has a market cap of $745.27 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.26 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 3.59 and a quick ratio of 2.94. Genco Shipping & Trading has a twelve month low of $13.10 and a twelve month high of $23.43.

Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE:GNK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The shipping company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.41. The company had revenue of $99.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.02 million. Genco Shipping & Trading had a return on equity of 8.49% and a net margin of 15.63%. Genco Shipping & Trading’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.09) EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Genco Shipping & Trading will post 1.79 EPS for the current year.

Genco Shipping & Trading Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This is a boost from Genco Shipping & Trading’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Genco Shipping & Trading’s payout ratio is currently 101.91%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Genco Shipping & Trading

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Foundry Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Genco Shipping & Trading in the first quarter valued at approximately $3,812,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Genco Shipping & Trading by 4.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,147,377 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $23,326,000 after purchasing an additional 47,060 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Genco Shipping & Trading by 1.2% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,869,297 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $61,145,000 after purchasing an additional 33,150 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in Genco Shipping & Trading by 965.0% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 106,003 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $2,155,000 after purchasing an additional 96,050 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC raised its position in Genco Shipping & Trading by 694.2% during the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 239,213 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $5,098,000 after purchasing an additional 209,093 shares in the last quarter. 58.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Genco Shipping & Trading Company Profile

Genco Shipping & Trading Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the ocean transportation of drybulk cargoes worldwide. The company owns and operates dry bulk vessels to transports iron ore, grains, coal, steel products, and other drybulk cargoes. It charters its vessels primarily to trading houses, including commodities traders; producers; and government-owned entities.