Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE:STNG) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE:STNG) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $79.6667.

A number of research firms have recently commented on STNG. Moffett Nathanson upgraded Scorpio Tankers to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $83.00 price objective on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a report on Friday, February 13th. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a research report on Monday. Finally, B. Riley Financial restated a “buy” rating on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a report on Friday, February 13th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Scorpio Tankers

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of STNG. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Scorpio Tankers during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,890,000. Merewether Investment Management LP bought a new stake in Scorpio Tankers in the third quarter worth $38,471,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Scorpio Tankers by 136.4% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 853,712 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $43,394,000 after acquiring an additional 492,584 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Scorpio Tankers by 68.3% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 806,049 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $45,179,000 after acquiring an additional 326,973 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Scorpio Tankers by 91.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 642,673 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $25,148,000 after acquiring an additional 307,815 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.64% of the company’s stock.

Scorpio Tankers Price Performance

STNG stock opened at $76.20 on Tuesday. Scorpio Tankers has a 1 year low of $30.63 and a 1 year high of $81.85. The company has a market cap of $3.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.78 and a beta of -0.31. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $64.62 and a 200 day moving average of $59.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 9.33 and a quick ratio of 9.23.

Scorpio Tankers (NYSE:STNG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The shipping company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.25. Scorpio Tankers had a net margin of 36.70% and a return on equity of 8.85%. The business had revenue of $252.65 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.93 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.63 earnings per share. Scorpio Tankers’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Scorpio Tankers will post 5.29 EPS for the current year.

Scorpio Tankers Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is an increase from Scorpio Tankers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Scorpio Tankers’s dividend payout ratio is 25.46%.

Scorpio Tankers Company Profile

Scorpio Tankers Inc (NYSE: STNG) is an independent provider of marine transportation services, specializing in the carriage of refined petroleum products. The company’s core operations focus on moving clean petroleum cargoes—such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and naphtha—on a global scale. By catering to both spot and time charter markets, Scorpio Tankers enables energy companies, refiners and traders to manage their supply chains with flexibility and reliability.

The company’s fleet is composed of modern, eco-designed product tankers, including medium range (MR) and long range (LR) vessels.