Genco Shipping & Trading Limited (NYSE:GNK) Stock Short Interest Rises 46.4%

Genco Shipping & Trading Limited (NYSE:GNK) saw a significant increase in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totaling 1,496,591 shares, an increase of 46.4% from the August 31st total of 1,022,340 shares. Currently, 3.5% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 795,852 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on GNK. Weiss Ratings upgraded Genco Shipping & Trading from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. B. Riley Financial reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Genco Shipping & Trading in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research cut shares of Genco Shipping & Trading from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. BTIG Research reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Genco Shipping & Trading in a research note on Friday, September 18th. Finally, Alliance Global Partners restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Genco Shipping & Trading in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.00.

Genco Shipping & Trading Price Performance

NYSE GNK traded up $0.14 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $27.36. 81,031 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 434,693. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.97 and a quick ratio of 2.41. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.86. Genco Shipping & Trading has a 1 year low of $15.55 and a 1 year high of $28.42. The company has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.96.

Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE:GNK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The shipping company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $136.41 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.59 million. Genco Shipping & Trading had a return on equity of 6.46% and a net margin of 9.15%.The company’s revenue was up 68.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.16) EPS. On average, analysts predict that Genco Shipping & Trading will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Genco Shipping & Trading Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th were issued a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. This is a positive change from Genco Shipping & Trading’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Genco Shipping & Trading’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 351.65%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Genco Shipping & Trading

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Genco Shipping & Trading during the 2nd quarter valued at about $446,000. Raiffeisen Bank International AG grew its holdings in shares of Genco Shipping & Trading by 22.6% in the second quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG now owns 65,019 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,611,000 after purchasing an additional 11,984 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in shares of Genco Shipping & Trading in the second quarter worth approximately $35,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Genco Shipping & Trading by 33.2% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 49,457 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,115,000 after buying an additional 12,319 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Genco Shipping & Trading by 12.4% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 226,751 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $5,113,000 after buying an additional 25,002 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 58.62% of the company’s stock.

About Genco Shipping & Trading

Genco Shipping & Trading Limited is a drybulk shipping company that owns and operates ocean-going vessels used to transport commodities worldwide. Its fleet serves the global seaborne trade in major and minor drybulk cargoes, including iron ore, coal, grain, steel products and other raw materials.

The company operates vessels across several drybulk segments, including Capesize, Ultramax, Supramax and Handysize ships. Genco provides transportation services to commodity producers, traders and industrial customers, with voyages covering major international trade routes and ports.

Founded in 2004 and headquartered in New York City, Genco became a publicly traded company in 2005.