Scorpio Tankers (NYSE:STNG) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE:STNG) shares gapped down prior to trading on Friday after Bank of America downgraded the stock from a buy rating to an underperform rating. The stock had previously closed at $56.18, but opened at $54.50. Scorpio Tankers shares last traded at $53.6050, with a volume of 271,448 shares trading hands.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Evercore ISI set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Scorpio Tankers and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research cut Scorpio Tankers from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a report on Thursday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Scorpio Tankers has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.20.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Scorpio Tankers

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in STNG. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Scorpio Tankers during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,890,000. Merewether Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Scorpio Tankers in the third quarter worth about $38,471,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Scorpio Tankers by 136.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 853,712 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $43,394,000 after acquiring an additional 492,584 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Scorpio Tankers by 68.3% during the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 806,049 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $45,179,000 after acquiring an additional 326,973 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Scorpio Tankers by 91.9% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 642,673 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $25,148,000 after acquiring an additional 307,815 shares in the last quarter. 54.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Scorpio Tankers Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 4.81 and a quick ratio of 4.75. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.72. The company has a market capitalization of $2.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.28 and a beta of -0.27.

Scorpio Tankers (NYSE:STNG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The shipping company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $232.92 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $228.09 million. Scorpio Tankers had a net margin of 32.01% and a return on equity of 7.42%. The business’s revenue was down 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.75 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Scorpio Tankers Inc. will post 5.29 EPS for the current year.

Scorpio Tankers Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 5th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This is a boost from Scorpio Tankers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 14th. Scorpio Tankers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.