Scorpio Tankers (NYSE:STNG) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE:STNG) gapped down prior to trading on Friday after Bank of America downgraded the stock from a buy rating to an underperform rating. The stock had previously closed at $56.18, but opened at $54.50. Scorpio Tankers shares last traded at $53.6050, with a volume of 271,448 shares trading hands.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on STNG. Evercore ISI set a $80.00 target price on shares of Scorpio Tankers and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Zacks Research downgraded Scorpio Tankers from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 target price (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a report on Thursday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Scorpio Tankers currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.20.

Institutional Trading of Scorpio Tankers

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of STNG. Marex Group plc purchased a new stake in Scorpio Tankers in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $901,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Scorpio Tankers by 47.0% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 166,282 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $6,249,000 after purchasing an additional 53,153 shares during the last quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC boosted its stake in Scorpio Tankers by 84.5% in the third quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 120,862 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $6,774,000 after buying an additional 55,360 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Scorpio Tankers by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 84,174 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,163,000 after purchasing an additional 8,170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Scorpio Tankers by 1,954.8% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 10,870 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $425,000 after buying an additional 10,341 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.64% of the company’s stock.

Scorpio Tankers Trading Down 4.0%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 4.75 and a current ratio of 4.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $56.29 and a 200-day moving average of $52.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.06 and a beta of -0.27.

Scorpio Tankers (NYSE:STNG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The shipping company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $232.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $228.09 million. Scorpio Tankers had a return on equity of 7.42% and a net margin of 32.01%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.75 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Scorpio Tankers Inc. will post 5.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scorpio Tankers Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 5th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This is a boost from Scorpio Tankers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Scorpio Tankers’s dividend payout ratio is 28.43%.

Scorpio Tankers Company Profile

Scorpio Tankers Inc (NYSE: STNG) is an independent provider of marine transportation services, specializing in the carriage of refined petroleum products. The company’s core operations focus on moving clean petroleum cargoes—such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and naphtha—on a global scale. By catering to both spot and time charter markets, Scorpio Tankers enables energy companies, refiners and traders to manage their supply chains with flexibility and reliability.

The company’s fleet is composed of modern, eco-designed product tankers, including medium range (MR) and long range (LR) vessels.