Short Interest in Tidewater Inc. (NYSE:TDW) Declines By 15.9%

Tidewater Inc. (NYSE:TDW) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,130,000 shares, a decrease of 15.9% from the August 31st total of 4,910,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 839,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.9 days.

Tidewater Stock Performance

Shares of TDW traded up $1.68 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $71.79. 1,005,342 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 868,611. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $92.69. Tidewater has a 52-week low of $54.53 and a 52-week high of $111.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.77 billion, a PE ratio of 28.60 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.82.

Tidewater (NYSE:TDW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The oil and gas company reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.22. Tidewater had a return on equity of 18.04% and a net margin of 12.77%. The business had revenue of $339.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $331.85 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 57.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Tidewater will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Tidewater announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, August 6th that allows the company to repurchase $13.90 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the oil and gas company to repurchase up to 0.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on TDW. StockNews.com cut Tidewater from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Tidewater from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $111.25.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Tidewater by 25.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,814,738 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $442,956,000 after purchasing an additional 985,398 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its holdings in Tidewater by 11.7% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,323,725 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $214,055,000 after acquiring an additional 243,489 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in Tidewater by 11,317.3% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 645,418 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $60,992,000 after acquiring an additional 639,765 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Tidewater by 72.1% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 443,833 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $42,257,000 after purchasing an additional 185,972 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nationale Nederlanden Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Tidewater in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,898,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.13% of the company’s stock.

About Tidewater

Tidewater Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides offshore support vessels and marine support services to the offshore energy industry through the operation of a fleet of marine service vessels worldwide. It provides services in support of offshore oil and gas exploration, field development, and production, as well as windfarm development and maintenance, including towing of and anchor handling for mobile offshore drilling units; transporting supplies and personnel necessary to sustain drilling, workover, and production activities; offshore construction, and seismic and subsea support; geotechnical survey support for windfarm construction; and various specialized services, such as pipe and cable laying.