Insider Buying: KNOT Offshore Partners (NYSE:KNOP) Director Acquires $25,000,000.00 in Stock

KNOT Offshore Partners LP (NYSE:KNOP) Director Trygve Seglem purchased 1,250,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $20.00 per share, with a total value of $25,000,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 1,458,333 shares in the company, valued at $29,166,660. The trade was a 600.00% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

KNOT Offshore Partners Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE KNOP opened at $10.30 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $346.56 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.07 and a beta of -0.06. KNOT Offshore Partners LP has a twelve month low of $6.16 and a twelve month high of $11.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The business’s fifty day moving average is $10.73 and its 200 day moving average is $10.51.

KNOT Offshore Partners (NYSE:KNOP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The shipping company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.09). KNOT Offshore Partners had a return on equity of 6.36% and a net margin of 4.92%.The firm had revenue of $92.01 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.35 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that KNOT Offshore Partners LP will post 0.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KNOT Offshore Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Investors of record on Monday, April 27th were issued a $0.05 dividend. This is a boost from KNOT Offshore Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 27th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. KNOT Offshore Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.04%.

Institutional Trading of KNOT Offshore Partners

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in KNOT Offshore Partners during the 1st quarter worth approximately $130,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in KNOT Offshore Partners by 115.0% during the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 9,042 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 4,836 shares during the last quarter. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP bought a new position in KNOT Offshore Partners during the second quarter worth $68,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in KNOT Offshore Partners by 220.3% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 16,557 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $104,000 after buying an additional 11,388 shares during the period. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its position in KNOT Offshore Partners by 11.5% during the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 48,075 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $424,000 after acquiring an additional 4,957 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on KNOP shares. B. Riley Financial raised shares of KNOT Offshore Partners from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $14.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. Fearnley Fonds upgraded shares of KNOT Offshore Partners from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of KNOT Offshore Partners from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded KNOT Offshore Partners from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, KNOT Offshore Partners presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $14.00.

KNOT Offshore Partners Company Profile

KNOT Offshore Partners LP is a publicly traded limited partnership formed in 2013 to own and operate shuttle tankers under long‐term charters in the offshore oil industry. Listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol KNOP, the partnership specializes in the transportation of crude oil from offshore production facilities to onshore refineries. Its fleet comprises moderne shuttle tankers equipped with dynamic positioning systems, enabling safe transfer operations in harsh weather and sea conditions.

The partnership’s vessels primarily serve fields in the North Sea, Brazil and West Africa, where they operate under multi‐year contracts with major energy producers.