Pacer Advisors Inc. Sells 89,870 Shares of Scorpio Tankers Inc. $STNG

Pacer Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE:STNG) by 22.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 317,924 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 89,870 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. owned 0.62% of Scorpio Tankers worth $17,820,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of STNG. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Scorpio Tankers by 9.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,778,606 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $69,597,000 after acquiring an additional 153,475 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Scorpio Tankers by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 798,508 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $31,246,000 after acquiring an additional 3,692 shares during the last quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Scorpio Tankers in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,890,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Scorpio Tankers by 91.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 642,673 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $25,148,000 after purchasing an additional 307,815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Scorpio Tankers by 14.9% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 633,167 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $24,776,000 after purchasing an additional 82,302 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on STNG shares. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 target price (up from $75.00) on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Evercore ISI set a $80.00 target price on shares of Scorpio Tankers and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on Scorpio Tankers from $73.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.20.

Scorpio Tankers Trading Up 0.8%

NYSE:STNG opened at $51.43 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $57.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $52.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.70 and a beta of -0.30. The company has a current ratio of 4.81, a quick ratio of 4.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Scorpio Tankers Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.63 and a 12 month high of $65.52.

Scorpio Tankers (NYSE:STNG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The shipping company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.10. Scorpio Tankers had a net margin of 32.01% and a return on equity of 7.42%. The company had revenue of $232.92 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $228.09 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.75 earnings per share. Scorpio Tankers’s quarterly revenue was down 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Scorpio Tankers Inc. will post 5.29 EPS for the current year.

Scorpio Tankers Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th were given a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. This is an increase from Scorpio Tankers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Scorpio Tankers’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.43%.

About Scorpio Tankers

Scorpio Tankers Inc (NYSE: STNG) is an independent provider of marine transportation services, specializing in the carriage of refined petroleum products. The company’s core operations focus on moving clean petroleum cargoes—such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and naphtha—on a global scale. By catering to both spot and time charter markets, Scorpio Tankers enables energy companies, refiners and traders to manage their supply chains with flexibility and reliability.

The company’s fleet is composed of modern, eco-designed product tankers, including medium range (MR) and long range (LR) vessels.