Pangaea Logistics Solutions (NASDAQ:PANL) Stock Rating Raised to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Pangaea Logistics Solutions (NASDAQ:PANL) was upgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Monday, Zacks reports.

Separately, Weiss Ratings raised Pangaea Logistics Solutions from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have given a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy”.

Pangaea Logistics Solutions Stock Up 5.2%

Shares of PANL stock opened at $8.54 on Monday. Pangaea Logistics Solutions has a 1-year low of $6.21 and a 1-year high of $9.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $8.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $7.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The company has a market cap of $559.15 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.43 and a beta of 0.91.

Pangaea Logistics Solutions (NASDAQ:PANL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The shipping company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.21. Pangaea Logistics Solutions had a return on equity of 13.64% and a net margin of 9.68%. The company had revenue of $219.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.90 million. On average, research analysts expect that Pangaea Logistics Solutions will post 1.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PANL. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Pangaea Logistics Solutions by 33.0% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 746,100 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $5,282,000 after acquiring an additional 185,100 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Pangaea Logistics Solutions by 13.9% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,884,470 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $20,421,000 after acquiring an additional 351,385 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in Pangaea Logistics Solutions by 66.4% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 208,875 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,479,000 after acquiring an additional 83,380 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. purchased a new stake in Pangaea Logistics Solutions during the 1st quarter valued at about $933,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pangaea Logistics Solutions by 9.8% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 413,152 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $2,925,000 after purchasing an additional 36,990 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.23% of the company’s stock.

Pangaea Logistics Solutions Company Profile

Pangaea Logistics Solutions Ltd. is a global provider of dry-bulk shipping and logistics services. The company transports commodities such as minerals, grain and other bulk cargoes, coordinating ocean carriage with related logistics services. Its operations include vessel ownership and chartering, cargo planning, port and terminal services, stevedoring, and cargo loading and unloading. Pangaea also operates specialized vessels, including ice-class ships designed to serve ports and routes with challenging ice conditions.