StealthGas Inc. (NASDAQ:GASS) Short Interest Up 336.2% in May

StealthGas Inc. (NASDAQ:GASS) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 20,500 shares, an increase of 336.2% from the May 15th total of 4,700 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 86,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.2 days. Currently, 0.1% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On StealthGas

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC raised its holdings in StealthGas by 136.0% in the 1st quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 72,009 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $407,000 after acquiring an additional 41,497 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of StealthGas in the first quarter worth $63,000. XTX Topco Ltd increased its position in shares of StealthGas by 18.3% in the first quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 18,328 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 2,837 shares during the period. Navellier & Associates Inc. raised its stake in StealthGas by 18.5% in the first quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. now owns 82,572 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $453,000 after purchasing an additional 12,886 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Towerview LLC lifted its position in StealthGas by 0.3% during the first quarter. Towerview LLC now owns 2,770,000 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $15,650,000 after purchasing an additional 7,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.32% of the company’s stock.

StealthGas Stock Up 4.7%

GASS opened at $6.73 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $5.54 and a 200-day moving average of $5.56. The company has a market capitalization of $248.87 million, a P/E ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.33. StealthGas has a fifty-two week low of $4.82 and a fifty-two week high of $7.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 2.59 and a current ratio of 2.66.

StealthGas (NASDAQ:GASS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The shipping company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.11. StealthGas had a net margin of 40.87% and a return on equity of 11.36%. The firm had revenue of $42.03 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.40 million.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wall Street Zen lowered StealthGas from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th.

StealthGas Company Profile

StealthGas Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides seaborne transportation services to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) producers and users worldwide. The company's carriers carry various petroleum gas products in liquefied form, including propane, butane, butadiene, isopropane, propylene, and vinyl chloride monomer, as well as ammonia; refined petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel, fuel oil, and jet fuel; and edible oils and chemicals.