SFL (NYSE:SFL) Rating Lowered to Hold at Wall Street Zen

SFL (NYSE:SFL) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on SFL. Weiss Ratings raised SFL from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. BTIG Research lifted their target price on SFL from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.00.

SFL Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of NYSE SFL opened at $11.10 on Friday. SFL has a 1-year low of $6.73 and a 1-year high of $12.94. The company has a 50-day moving average of $11.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.46. The company has a market cap of $1.60 billion, a PE ratio of 46.24 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SFL. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in SFL by 3.9% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 685,833 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $7,400,000 after purchasing an additional 25,820 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in SFL by 9.7% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 68,731 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $742,000 after purchasing an additional 6,054 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in SFL in the first quarter worth $310,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of SFL by 25.2% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 437,565 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $4,721,000 after purchasing an additional 88,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in shares of SFL by 8.5% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 27,709 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $299,000 after purchasing an additional 2,164 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.