Brokerages Set KNOT Offshore Partners LP (NYSE:KNOP) Price Target at $14.00

Shares of KNOT Offshore Partners LP (NYSE:KNOP) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the five research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $14.00.

KNOP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Fearnley Fonds upgraded KNOT Offshore Partners from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Zacks Research cut shares of KNOT Offshore Partners from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of KNOT Offshore Partners from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st.

KNOT Offshore Partners Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE KNOP opened at $10.23 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $10.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $344.51 million, a P/E ratio of 18.95 and a beta of -0.05. KNOT Offshore Partners has a 52-week low of $6.76 and a 52-week high of $11.78.

KNOT Offshore Partners (NYSE:KNOP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 28th. The shipping company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.09). KNOT Offshore Partners had a net margin of 4.92% and a return on equity of 6.36%. The company had revenue of $92.01 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.35 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that KNOT Offshore Partners will post 0.09 earnings per share for the current year.

KNOT Offshore Partners Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 27th will be given a $0.075 dividend. This is a positive change from KNOT Offshore Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 27th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. KNOT Offshore Partners’s payout ratio is currently 37.04%.

Insider Activity at KNOT Offshore Partners

In other KNOT Offshore Partners news, Director Trygve Seglem purchased 1,250,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were bought at an average price of $20.00 per share, with a total value of $25,000,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 1,458,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,166,660. This represents a 600.00% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Institutional Trading of KNOT Offshore Partners

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Royal Bank of Canada bought a new stake in KNOT Offshore Partners during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of KNOT Offshore Partners by 8.8% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,335,435 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $13,461,000 after purchasing an additional 108,400 shares in the last quarter. Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of KNOT Offshore Partners during the first quarter valued at $259,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new position in shares of KNOT Offshore Partners during the first quarter valued at $643,000. Finally, Alpine Global Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of KNOT Offshore Partners during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,294,000. 26.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

KNOT Offshore Partners Company Profile

KNOT Offshore Partners LP is a publicly traded limited partnership formed in 2013 to own and operate shuttle tankers under long?term charters in the offshore oil industry. Listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol KNOP, the partnership specializes in the transportation of crude oil from offshore production facilities to onshore refineries. Its fleet comprises moderne shuttle tankers equipped with dynamic positioning systems, enabling safe transfer operations in harsh weather and sea conditions.

The partnership’s vessels primarily serve fields in the North Sea, Brazil and West Africa, where they operate under multi?year contracts with major energy producers.