Empowered Funds LLC Boosts Stock Position in International Seaways Inc. $INSW

Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in International Seaways Inc. (NYSE:INSW) by 13.9% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 268,163 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,634 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in International Seaways were worth $19,544,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in shares of International Seaways by 42.0% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 9,365 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $311,000 after buying an additional 2,768 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of International Seaways by 3.9% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 24,089 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $800,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in shares of International Seaways by 16.8% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 128,428 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,264,000 after buying an additional 18,509 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in International Seaways during the second quarter worth approximately $223,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in International Seaways during the second quarter worth approximately $1,626,000. 67.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on INSW shares. BTIG Research lifted their target price on shares of International Seaways from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Wall Street Zen raised International Seaways from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded International Seaways from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research raised International Seaways from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of International Seaways in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $86.00.

International Seaways Price Performance

INSW opened at $93.91 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $84.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 7.28 and a current ratio of 7.34. International Seaways Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.06 and a 1 year high of $94.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.65 billion, a PE ratio of 8.55 and a beta of -0.12.

International Seaways (NYSE:INSW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The transportation company reported $3.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.87 by $1.03. International Seaways had a net margin of 55.39% and a return on equity of 21.04%. The firm had revenue of $325.48 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $279.34 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.80 earnings per share. International Seaways’s revenue was up 77.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that International Seaways Inc. will post 15.62 EPS for the current year.

International Seaways Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. International Seaways’s payout ratio is currently 4.37%.

Insider Activity at International Seaways

In other news, CEO Lois K. Zabrocky sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.34, for a total transaction of $162,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 177,745 shares in the company, valued at $14,457,778.30. This represents a 1.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP William F. Nugent sold 6,830 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.23, for a total value of $582,120.90. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 49,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,190,673.87. The trade was a 12.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 42,530 shares of company stock valued at $3,699,995 over the last quarter. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.