SFL (NYSE:SFL) Price Target Raised to $15.00

SFL (NYSE:SFL) had its price target hoisted by BTIG Research from $13.00 to $15.00 in a research note released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the shipping company’s stock.

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of SFL from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $12.00.

SFL Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SFL opened at $13.31 on Wednesday. SFL has a one year low of $8.43 and a one year high of $13.74. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $12.68 and a 200-day moving average of $11.70. The company has a market capitalization of $1.84 billion, a PE ratio of 20.17 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31.

SFL (NYSE:SFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The shipping company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter. SFL had a return on equity of 8.04% and a net margin of 11.16%. The company had revenue of $209.57 million during the quarter.

SFL Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from SFL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.81%. SFL’s dividend payout ratio is 157.58%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SFL

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in SFL by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,803,647 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $99,306,000 after buying an additional 226,432 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in SFL by 3.5% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,080,569 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $56,732,000 after acquiring an additional 206,027 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in SFL by 36.0% during the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,148,989 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $20,394,000 after acquiring an additional 568,675 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in SFL by 12.9% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,121,955 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $20,159,000 after acquiring an additional 242,127 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in SFL by 1.5% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,046,431 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $20,832,000 after acquiring an additional 30,763 shares during the period. 28.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

SFL Company Profile

SFL Corporation Ltd., a maritime and offshore asset owning and chartering company, engages in the ownership, operation, and chartering out of vessels and offshore related assets on medium and long-term charters. The company operates in various sectors of the maritime, and shipping and offshore industries, including oil transportation, dry bulk shipments, chemical transportation, oil products transportation, container transportation, car transportation, and drilling rigs.