Short Interest in Genco Shipping & Trading Limited (NYSE:GNK) Declines By 18.3%

Genco Shipping & Trading Limited (NYSE:GNK) saw a large decrease in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 767,000 shares, a decrease of 18.3% from the August 31st total of 939,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 479,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.6 days. Currently, 1.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Genco Shipping & Trading

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GNK. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Genco Shipping & Trading by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,869,297 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $61,145,000 after purchasing an additional 33,150 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Genco Shipping & Trading by 6,233.8% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,199,945 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $24,395,000 after acquiring an additional 1,181,000 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Genco Shipping & Trading by 4.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,147,377 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $23,326,000 after purchasing an additional 47,060 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Genco Shipping & Trading by 16.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,096,741 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $23,372,000 after purchasing an additional 154,339 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in Genco Shipping & Trading by 66.6% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,050,030 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $22,376,000 after purchasing an additional 419,730 shares during the period. 58.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Genco Shipping & Trading Price Performance

Genco Shipping & Trading stock traded down $0.09 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $19.16. 432,126 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 611,897. Genco Shipping & Trading has a 12 month low of $12.65 and a 12 month high of $23.43. The business’s 50-day moving average is $17.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 2.94 and a current ratio of 3.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $819.24 million, a P/E ratio of 319.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.26 and a beta of 0.95.

Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE:GNK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The shipping company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $107.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $74.86 million. Genco Shipping & Trading had a return on equity of 6.11% and a net margin of 3.59%. The business’s revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Genco Shipping & Trading will post 2.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Genco Shipping & Trading Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. Genco Shipping & Trading’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2,266.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on GNK shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Genco Shipping & Trading in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $22.00 target price on the stock. Alliance Global Partners upped their price objective on Genco Shipping & Trading from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Genco Shipping & Trading currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.80.

About Genco Shipping & Trading

Genco Shipping & Trading Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the ocean transportation of drybulk cargoes worldwide. The company owns and operates dry bulk vessels to transports iron ore, grains, coal, steel products, and other drybulk cargoes. It charters its vessels primarily to trading houses, including commodities traders; producers; and government-owned entities.