TORM (NASDAQ:TRMD) Stock Price Up 2.6%

TORM plc (NASDAQ:TRMD)’s stock price shot up 2.6% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $35.16 and last traded at $34.93. 154,385 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 684,421 shares. The stock had previously closed at $34.05.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Evercore ISI raised their target price on TORM from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd.

TORM Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $36.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 3.18 and a quick ratio of 2.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.94 billion, a PE ratio of 4.60 and a beta of 0.24.

TORM (NASDAQ:TRMD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.03. TORM had a net margin of 43.81% and a return on equity of 36.06%. The company had revenue of $437.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $325.38 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.14 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that TORM plc will post 7.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TORM Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 29th were paid a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 19.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 29th. This is a boost from TORM’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. TORM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.29%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TORM

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in TORM by 860.9% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,429,989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,441,000 after buying an additional 1,281,176 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in TORM by 320.5% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,265,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,189,000 after acquiring an additional 964,801 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in TORM during the fourth quarter worth about $22,306,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in TORM in the second quarter worth about $9,619,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of TORM by 38.9% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 669,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,945,000 after purchasing an additional 187,300 shares in the last quarter. 73.89% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

TORM Company Profile

TORM plc, a shipping company, owns and operates a fleet of product tankers in the United Kingdom. It operates in two operating segments, Tanker and Marine Exhaust. The Tanker segment transports refined oil products, such as gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, naphtha, and gas oil, as well as dirty petroleum products, including fuel oil.