TORM (NASDAQ:TRMD) Shares Down 0.9%

TORM plc (NASDAQ:TRMD)’s share price dropped 0.9% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $33.35 and last traded at $33.62. Approximately 213,870 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average daily volume of 684,459 shares. The stock had previously closed at $33.94.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

TORM Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 3.18 and a quick ratio of 2.94. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $37.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.99.

TORM (NASDAQ:TRMD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.03. TORM had a return on equity of 36.06% and a net margin of 43.81%. The firm had revenue of $437.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $325.38 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.14 EPS. On average, analysts expect that TORM plc will post 7.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TORM Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 29th will be given a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 21.79%. This is an increase from TORM’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 29th. TORM’s payout ratio is presently 66.41%.

Institutional Trading of TORM

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TRMD. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in TORM by 860.9% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,429,989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,441,000 after buying an additional 1,281,176 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in TORM by 320.5% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,265,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,189,000 after purchasing an additional 964,801 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in TORM by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,179,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,221,000 after purchasing an additional 85,937 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of TORM during the 4th quarter worth $22,306,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of TORM by 38.9% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 669,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,945,000 after acquiring an additional 187,300 shares during the last quarter. 73.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.