SFL (NYSE:SFL) Shares Pass Above 200 Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

SFL Corporation Ltd. (NYSE:SFL)’s stock price passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $9.78 and traded as high as $11.12. SFL shares last traded at $11.0950, with a volume of 1,205,186 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on SFL. BTIG Research raised their price objective on SFL from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings upgraded SFL from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded SFL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, May 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, SFL has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.00.

SFL Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market cap of $1.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.23 and a beta of 0.41. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $11.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.78.

SFL (NYSE:SFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 12th. The shipping company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $174.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $170.77 million. SFL had a return on equity of 0.26% and a net margin of 4.37%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.24) EPS.

SFL Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.9%. This is an increase from SFL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. SFL’s payout ratio is presently 366.67%.

Institutional Trading of SFL

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of SFL by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,805,291 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $95,007,000 after buying an additional 244,621 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in SFL by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,847,616 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $28,973,000 after buying an additional 550,011 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in SFL by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 2,904,433 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $21,870,000 after buying an additional 97,689 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in SFL by 16.0% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,259,801 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $9,839,000 after buying an additional 174,072 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in SFL by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 685,833 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $7,400,000 after buying an additional 25,820 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.59% of the company’s stock.

About SFL

Ship Finance International Limited (NYSE: SFL) is an independent owner of modern, large-size ocean-going vessels that provides finance and leasing services to the global shipping industry. The company’s fleet encompasses a diversified mix of crude oil tankers, product and chemical tankers, liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, dry bulk carriers, container vessels and floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) units. By structuring long-term charter agreements and bareboat leases with major oil companies, commodity traders and offshore operators, Ship Finance International seeks to deliver stable cash flows and risk-adjusted returns for its shareholders.

In its core business, Ship Finance International acquires or finances vessels through forward sales agreements and then charters them out under fixed-rate contracts, typically ranging from five to 20 years in duration.