International Seaways (NYSE:INSW) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

International Seaways Inc. (NYSE:INSW) gapped up prior to trading on Friday after Wall Street Zen upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. The stock had previously closed at $56.30, but opened at $58.43. International Seaways shares last traded at $57.8820, with a volume of 80,650 shares trading hands.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of International Seaways from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Pareto Securities raised International Seaways from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $64.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of International Seaways in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at International Seaways

In related news, CEO Lois K. Zabrocky sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.56, for a total transaction of $97,120.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 182,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,858,363.76. This trade represents a 1.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO James D. Small III sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.60, for a total transaction of $1,072,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 49,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,642,051.20. This trade represents a 28.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 32,500 shares of company stock worth $1,732,605. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of International Seaways

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of INSW. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of International Seaways by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,903,764 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $133,807,000 after buying an additional 42,051 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of International Seaways by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,994,978 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $91,929,000 after purchasing an additional 139,868 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of International Seaways by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,006,390 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $36,718,000 after purchasing an additional 6,076 shares in the last quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. lifted its stake in International Seaways by 43.9% during the second quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 709,036 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $25,866,000 after purchasing an additional 216,325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Encompass Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in International Seaways by 33.3% during the second quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC now owns 399,824 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $14,586,000 after buying an additional 99,914 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.29% of the company’s stock.

International Seaways Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.55. The stock has a market cap of $2.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.05 and a beta of -0.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

International Seaways (NYSE:INSW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The transportation company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $196.39 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $180.92 million. International Seaways had a return on equity of 10.13% and a net margin of 28.26%.The company’s revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.57 EPS. Analysts predict that International Seaways Inc. will post 7.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

International Seaways Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 9th were given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 9th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. International Seaways’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.93%.

International Seaways Company Profile

International Seaways, Inc (NYSE: INSW) is an independent tanker company that provides seaborne transportation services to oil companies, commodity traders and national oil companies. The firm’s operations focus on the carriage of crude oil and refined petroleum products, offering both time­ charter and voyage­ charter arrangements. With a modern fleet of very large crude carriers (VLCCs), Suezmax and Aframax tankers, as well as medium range (MR) and Handy product tankers, International Seaways supports global energy supply chains across major trade routes.

Founded in 1997 as Diamond S Shipping, the company completed its initial public offering in the late 1990s and rebranded to International Seaways in September 2018.