International Seaways (NYSE:INSW) Upgraded by Zacks Research to “Strong-Buy” Rating

International Seaways (NYSE:INSW) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on INSW. Wall Street Zen cut shares of International Seaways from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Pareto Securities raised shares of International Seaways from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $64.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of International Seaways in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. BTIG Research upped their price target on shares of International Seaways from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of International Seaways in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $64.00.

International Seaways Stock Performance

NYSE INSW opened at $75.50 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.12 and a beta of -0.23. International Seaways has a twelve month low of $27.20 and a twelve month high of $78.51. The company has a current ratio of 3.71, a quick ratio of 3.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $58.89 and a 200 day moving average of $52.10.

International Seaways (NYSE:INSW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The transportation company reported $2.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.70. The company had revenue of $267.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $245.29 million. International Seaways had a return on equity of 13.92% and a net margin of 36.67%.International Seaways’s quarterly revenue was up 37.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that International Seaways will post 7.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at International Seaways

In other news, CFO Jeffrey Pribor sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.29, for a total transaction of $63,290.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 83,463 shares in the company, valued at $5,282,373.27. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lois K. Zabrocky sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.56, for a total value of $97,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 182,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,858,363.76. This trade represents a 1.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 9,000 shares of company stock worth $502,610 over the last 90 days. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On International Seaways

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of International Seaways by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,972,012 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $144,290,000 after acquiring an additional 68,248 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of International Seaways by 7.5% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,994,978 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $91,929,000 after purchasing an additional 139,868 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in International Seaways by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,010,815 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $49,083,000 after purchasing an additional 4,250 shares during the last quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. raised its stake in International Seaways by 43.9% during the second quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 709,036 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $25,866,000 after purchasing an additional 216,325 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in International Seaways by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 638,791 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $31,013,000 after purchasing an additional 12,188 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.29% of the company’s stock.

About International Seaways

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.