Short Interest in TORM plc (NASDAQ:TRMD) Decreases By 21.6%

TORM plc (NASDAQ:TRMD) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,220,000 shares, a drop of 21.6% from the August 31st total of 2,830,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 635,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.5 days. Currently, 4.4% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in shares of TORM by 860.9% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,429,989 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,441,000 after purchasing an additional 1,281,176 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of TORM by 320.5% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,265,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,189,000 after purchasing an additional 964,801 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of TORM by 7.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,179,417 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,221,000 after purchasing an additional 85,937 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of TORM during the fourth quarter worth about $22,306,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of TORM by 38.9% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 669,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,945,000 after purchasing an additional 187,300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.89% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on TORM from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd.

TORM Stock Down 3.2 %

TORM stock traded down $1.12 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $34.24. The stock had a trading volume of 1,102,936 shares, compared to its average volume of 689,350. TORM has a twelve month low of $25.28 and a twelve month high of $40.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 3.18 and a quick ratio of 2.94. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.09.

TORM (NASDAQ:TRMD) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.03. TORM had a return on equity of 36.06% and a net margin of 43.81%. The firm had revenue of $437.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $325.38 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.14 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that TORM will post 7.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TORM Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 29th were paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 21.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 29th. This is a boost from TORM’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. TORM’s payout ratio is currently 66.41%.

TORM Company Profile

TORM plc, a shipping company, owns and operates a fleet of product tankers in the United Kingdom. It operates in two operating segments, Tanker and Marine Exhaust. The Tanker segment transports refined oil products, such as gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, naphtha, and gas oil, as well as dirty petroleum products, including fuel oil.