Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE:GNK) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE:GNK) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report released on Wednesday.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on GNK. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $17.00 price objective on shares of Genco Shipping & Trading in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Pareto Securities upgraded Genco Shipping & Trading to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Dnb Nor Markets upgraded Genco Shipping & Trading to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.75.

Genco Shipping & Trading Price Performance

NYSE GNK opened at $13.06 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 3.09 and a quick ratio of 2.49. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $13.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.31. Genco Shipping & Trading has a 1 year low of $11.20 and a 1 year high of $22.68. The company has a market cap of $561.04 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.46, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.17.

Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE:GNK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The shipping company reported ($0.28) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by ($0.02). Genco Shipping & Trading had a return on equity of 7.82% and a net margin of 18.06%. The company had revenue of $41.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.49 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.49 earnings per share. Genco Shipping & Trading’s revenue for the quarter was down 39.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Genco Shipping & Trading will post 0.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Genco Shipping & Trading news, insider Jesper Christensen sold 13,602 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.96, for a total transaction of $189,883.92. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,322 shares in the company, valued at approximately $800,215.12. This represents a 19.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Peter George Allen sold 8,984 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.96, for a total transaction of $125,416.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 45,251 shares in the company, valued at $631,703.96. This represents a 16.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 28,812 shares of company stock valued at $402,216. Insiders own 2.37% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Genco Shipping & Trading

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Focus Partners Wealth raised its stake in shares of Genco Shipping & Trading by 15.3% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 798,520 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $10,668,000 after acquiring an additional 106,222 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Genco Shipping & Trading by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 274,401 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $3,666,000 after purchasing an additional 5,540 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd increased its position in shares of Genco Shipping & Trading by 59.5% in the 1st quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 17,848 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 6,660 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Genco Shipping & Trading by 6,887.1% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,676,967 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $22,404,000 after buying an additional 1,652,966 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Genco Shipping & Trading by 49.3% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 296,188 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,957,000 after buying an additional 97,766 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.62% of the company’s stock.

About Genco Shipping & Trading

Genco Shipping & Trading Ltd. is an international ship owning company, which engages in the transportation of iron ore, coal, grain, bauxite, steel products, and other drybulk cargoes. It operates through the Major Bulk and Minor Bulk segments. The Major Bulk segment focuses on Capesize vessels. The Minor Bulk segment consists of Ultramax and Supramax vessels.