Genco Shipping & Trading Limited (NYSE:GNK) Receives $23.00 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Genco Shipping & Trading Limited (NYSE:GNK) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the six analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $23.00.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Pareto Securities raised Genco Shipping & Trading to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Genco Shipping & Trading from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Genco Shipping & Trading from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th.

Genco Shipping & Trading Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of GNK opened at $13.56 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 3.09 and a quick ratio of 2.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $579.80 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.75, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a 50-day moving average of $14.14 and a 200 day moving average of $15.44. Genco Shipping & Trading has a 1-year low of $13.08 and a 1-year high of $23.43.

Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE:GNK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The shipping company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.27). The firm had revenue of $67.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $67.36 million. Genco Shipping & Trading had a net margin of 18.06% and a return on equity of 7.82%. On average, research analysts expect that Genco Shipping & Trading will post 0.48 EPS for the current year.

Genco Shipping & Trading Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.85%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. Genco Shipping & Trading’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.57%.

Insider Activity

In other Genco Shipping & Trading news, CAO Joseph Adamo sold 6,226 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.96, for a total transaction of $86,914.96. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $374,532.84. This represents a 18.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jesper Christensen sold 13,602 shares of Genco Shipping & Trading stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.96, for a total transaction of $189,883.92. Following the sale, the insider now owns 57,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $800,215.12. The trade was a 19.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 28,812 shares of company stock worth $402,216. Insiders own 2.08% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Genco Shipping & Trading

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in shares of Genco Shipping & Trading in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,692,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Genco Shipping & Trading by 70.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 530,523 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $10,345,000 after buying an additional 219,907 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Genco Shipping & Trading by 173.3% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 282,603 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,940,000 after buying an additional 179,216 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Genco Shipping & Trading by 155.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 285,091 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $5,559,000 after acquiring an additional 173,270 shares during the period. Finally, Royce & Associates LP lifted its holdings in Genco Shipping & Trading by 23.9% during the fourth quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 597,860 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $8,334,000 after purchasing an additional 115,173 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.62% of the company’s stock.

Genco Shipping & Trading Company Profile

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.