River Road Asset Management LLC Cuts Stake in Tidewater Inc. (NYSE:TDW)

River Road Asset Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Tidewater Inc. (NYSE:TDW) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 77,008 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 1,875 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC owned 0.15% of Tidewater worth $5,553,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of TDW. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Tidewater by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,099,470 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $298,466,000 after purchasing an additional 20,599 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Tidewater by 37.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,798,600 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $269,967,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043,804 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Tidewater by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,967,847 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $64,403,000 after purchasing an additional 230,701 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Tidewater by 16.9% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,823,664 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $80,389,000 after purchasing an additional 263,179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Tidewater by 12.9% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,395,610 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $61,518,000 after purchasing an additional 159,961 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.13% of the company’s stock.

Tidewater Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TDW opened at $89.87 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $4.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.21 and a beta of 1.20. Tidewater Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.41 and a 52 week high of $101.10. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $83.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $72.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Tidewater (NYSE:TDW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 1st. The oil and gas company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.73 by ($0.03). Tidewater had a return on equity of 13.37% and a net margin of 9.62%. The firm had revenue of $302.66 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $309.46 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.30 earnings per share. Tidewater’s revenue for the quarter was up 62.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Tidewater Inc. will post 4.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Tidewater announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $48.60 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the oil and gas company to repurchase up to 1.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Tidewater news, CFO Samuel R. Rubio sold 19,641 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.36, for a total transaction of $1,597,991.76. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 98,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,976,208.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Tidewater news, CFO Samuel R. Rubio sold 19,641 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.36, for a total transaction of $1,597,991.76. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 98,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,976,208.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel A. Hudson sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.00, for a total transaction of $656,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,312 shares in the company, valued at $8,553,584. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 45,462 shares of company stock valued at $3,716,739 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 9.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Johnson Rice assumed coverage on shares of Tidewater in a report on Friday, February 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $88.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Tidewater from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. BTIG Research increased their price objective on shares of Tidewater from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Tidewater from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Pickering Energy Partners started coverage on shares of Tidewater in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $93.00.

Tidewater Company Profile

Tidewater Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides offshore support vessels and marine support services to the offshore energy industry through the operation of a fleet of marine service vessels worldwide. It provides services in support of offshore oil and gas exploration, field development, and production, as well as windfarm development and maintenance, including towing of and anchor handling for mobile offshore drilling units; transporting supplies and personnel necessary to sustain drilling, workover, and production activities; offshore construction, and seismic and subsea support; geotechnical survey support for windfarm construction; and various specialized services, such as pipe and cable laying.