Short Interest in TORM plc (NASDAQ:TRMD) Declines By 15.0%

TORM plc (NASDAQ:TRMD) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,300,000 shares, a decrease of 15.0% from the June 30th total of 1,530,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 720,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days. Currently, 2.6% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TORM

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of TORM by 61.5% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 4,990 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,000 after buying an additional 1,900 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of TORM by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,073,569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,545,000 after buying an additional 28,478 shares during the period. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of TORM during the 4th quarter valued at $271,000. U S Global Investors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of TORM by 47.1% during the 4th quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 8,769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $267,000 after buying an additional 2,808 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of TORM during the 4th quarter valued at $2,000,000. 73.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

TORM Stock Performance

TRMD stock opened at $37.95 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.09 billion, a PE ratio of 4.79 and a beta of 0.27. TORM has a 12-month low of $24.10 and a 12-month high of $40.47. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.54.

TORM (NASDAQ:TRMD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.21 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $444.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $332.61 million. TORM had a net margin of 44.74% and a return on equity of 39.79%. As a group, research analysts forecast that TORM will post 7.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TORM Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were given a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 21st. This is a boost from TORM’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 15.81%. TORM’s dividend payout ratio is 55.30%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Evercore ISI upped their price target on TORM from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd.

About TORM

TORM plc, a shipping company, owns and operates a fleet of product tankers in the United Kingdom. It operates in two operating segments, Tanker and Marine Exhaust. The Tanker segment transports refined oil products, such as gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, naphtha, and gas oil, as well as dirty petroleum products, including fuel oil.