TORM (NASDAQ:TRMD) Shares Down 1.6% Following Analyst Downgrade

TORM plc (NASDAQ:TRMD) shares fell 1.6% during trading on Friday after Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on the stock from $37.00 to $32.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. TORM traded as low as $23.17 and last traded at $23.25. 282,093 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 63% from the average session volume of 771,616 shares. The stock had previously closed at $23.63.

TRMD has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Evercore ISI increased their target price on TORM from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Fearnley Fonds upgraded TORM to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TORM

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TRMD. National Bank of Canada FI acquired a new position in TORM in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in TORM by 76.9% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,187 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 516 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp acquired a new stake in TORM during the second quarter worth about $43,000. Syquant Capital Sas acquired a new position in shares of TORM in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of TORM during the 1st quarter worth approximately $51,000. 73.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

TORM Trading Down 3.3 %

The business’s 50 day moving average is $30.40 and its 200-day moving average is $34.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 2.24.

TORM (NASDAQ:TRMD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $437.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $325.38 million. TORM had a return on equity of 34.45% and a net margin of 43.81%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that TORM plc will post 6.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TORM Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.876 per share. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 15.33%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. TORM’s payout ratio is 68.05%.

About TORM

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.