Euroseas Ltd. (NASDAQ:ESEA) Short Interest Update

Euroseas Ltd. (NASDAQ:ESEA) saw a significant drop in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totaling 16,243 shares, a drop of 45.8% from the June 30th total of 29,949 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 51,882 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.3 days. Approximately 0.5% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Euroseas

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESEA. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Euroseas by 171.7% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 53,386 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,915,000 after acquiring an additional 33,738 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of Euroseas in the 1st quarter valued at $1,591,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Euroseas in the 2nd quarter valued at $870,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp purchased a new stake in Euroseas in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,136,000. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP acquired a new stake in Euroseas during the 3rd quarter worth $989,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 6.27% of the company’s stock.

Euroseas Stock Performance

Shares of ESEA stock traded down $0.45 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $78.94. 36,379 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 64,842. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $557.32 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.45. Euroseas has a 12-month low of $48.89 and a 12-month high of $79.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 5.38 and a current ratio of 5.46.

Euroseas (NASDAQ:ESEA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The shipping company reported $4.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.26 by $0.44. The business had revenue of $55.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $56.61 million. Euroseas had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 58.31%. On average, analysts forecast that Euroseas will post 18.1 EPS for the current year.

Euroseas Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. This is a positive change from Euroseas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. Euroseas’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ESEA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded Euroseas from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded Euroseas from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Weiss Ratings downgraded Euroseas from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Alliance Global Partners reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Euroseas in a report on Monday, April 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Euroseas currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

About Euroseas

Euroseas Ltd. (NASDAQ: ESEA) is an international shipping company specializing in seaborne transportation of containerized and drybulk cargoes. Incorporated in Bermuda with its principal operations and management office based in Athens, Greece, the company owns and charters a diversified fleet of containerships, drybulk carriers and multipurpose vessels. Euroseas provides tailored shipping solutions on time-charter and voyage-charter agreements, serving manufacturers, commodity traders and logistics providers across major trade routes.

Euroseas’s fleet comprises both owned and chartered tonnage, enabling the company to adjust capacity to market conditions and customer requirements.