Short Interest in Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:SHIP) Declines By 19.1%

Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:SHIP) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 300,200 shares, a decline of 19.1% from the August 31st total of 371,100 shares. Approximately 2.3% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 203,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.5 days.

Institutional Trading of Seanergy Maritime

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SHIP. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Seanergy Maritime by 1,009.6% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 384,373 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,782,000 after purchasing an additional 349,733 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in Seanergy Maritime by 193.6% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 359,347 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,547,000 after buying an additional 236,941 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of Seanergy Maritime by 316.2% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 213,503 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $2,107,000 after acquiring an additional 162,201 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Seanergy Maritime by 33.2% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 635,600 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $6,273,000 after acquiring an additional 158,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Seanergy Maritime by 217.9% in the second quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 126,976 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,253,000 after acquiring an additional 87,028 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 29.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on SHIP shares. StockNews.com downgraded Seanergy Maritime from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Noble Financial raised shares of Seanergy Maritime to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd.

Seanergy Maritime Stock Down 2.1 %

Seanergy Maritime stock traded down $0.26 during trading on Friday, reaching $12.08. 263,216 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 245,187. Seanergy Maritime has a 52-week low of $4.87 and a 52-week high of $13.19. The firm has a market cap of $250.06 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.10 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.55. The company’s 50-day moving average is $10.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.29.

Seanergy Maritime (NASDAQ:SHIP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The shipping company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.14. Seanergy Maritime had a return on equity of 12.42% and a net margin of 20.12%. The company had revenue of $43.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.69 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.05 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Seanergy Maritime will post 2.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Seanergy Maritime Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This is an increase from Seanergy Maritime’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.28%. Seanergy Maritime’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.50%.

About Seanergy Maritime

Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp., a shipping company, provides seaborne transportation of dry bulk commodities worldwide. It operates a fleet of 16 Capesize dry bulk vessels and one Newcastlemax dry bulk vessel with a cargo-carrying capacity of approximately 3,054,820 dwt. The company was formerly known as Seanergy Merger Corp.