Genco Shipping & Trading Limited (NYSE:GNK) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Genco Shipping & Trading Limited (NYSE:GNK) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $25.80.

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GNK shares. Alliance Global Partners increased their target price on shares of Genco Shipping & Trading from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Genco Shipping & Trading in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $22.00 target price on the stock.

Genco Shipping & Trading Price Performance

GNK opened at $17.51 on Thursday. Genco Shipping & Trading has a one year low of $12.65 and a one year high of $23.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 3.59 and a quick ratio of 2.94. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $20.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $748.69 million, a P/E ratio of 291.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 0.95.

Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE:GNK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The shipping company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.04. Genco Shipping & Trading had a net margin of 3.59% and a return on equity of 6.11%. The business had revenue of $107.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $74.86 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. Genco Shipping & Trading’s revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Genco Shipping & Trading will post 2.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Genco Shipping & Trading Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. Genco Shipping & Trading’s payout ratio is presently 2,266.67%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Genco Shipping & Trading

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GNK. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Genco Shipping & Trading by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 80,904 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,342,000 after buying an additional 14,692 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Genco Shipping & Trading by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 13,251 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $220,000 after purchasing an additional 1,915 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Genco Shipping & Trading by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 323,687 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $5,370,000 after purchasing an additional 58,917 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Genco Shipping & Trading by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,714,503 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $45,033,000 after purchasing an additional 30,203 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC acquired a new position in Genco Shipping & Trading during the 4th quarter worth approximately $126,000. 58.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Genco Shipping & Trading

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.