SFL Co. Ltd. (NYSE:SFL) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

SFL Co. Ltd. (NYSE:SFL) saw a significant growth in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,920,000 shares, a growth of 50.0% from the November 30th total of 1,280,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 827,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days. Approximately 1.8% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SFL

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of SFL by 3.2% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 29,908 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $415,000 after buying an additional 919 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in SFL by 151.8% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 321,211 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $4,449,000 after purchasing an additional 193,648 shares in the last quarter. Doheny Asset Management CA boosted its stake in SFL by 18.1% during the 2nd quarter. Doheny Asset Management CA now owns 307,833 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $4,273,000 after purchasing an additional 47,116 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of SFL by 19.8% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,803,656 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $38,915,000 after buying an additional 462,789 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of SFL by 0.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,995,617 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $124,859,000 after acquiring an additional 64,875 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 28.59% of the company’s stock.

SFL Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE SFL traded down $0.09 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $10.00. 1,243,735 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 850,829. SFL has a one year low of $9.64 and a one year high of $14.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.93, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.50. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.54. The stock has a market cap of $1.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.01 and a beta of 0.67.

SFL (NYSE:SFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The shipping company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.03). SFL had a net margin of 16.03% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The business had revenue of $255.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $243.98 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.23 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

SFL Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. SFL’s dividend payout ratio is presently 97.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Fearnley Fonds upgraded shares of SFL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st.

SFL Company Profile

SFL Corporation Ltd., a maritime and offshore asset owning and chartering company, engages in the ownership, operation, and chartering out of vessels and offshore related assets on medium and long-term charters. The company operates in various sectors of the maritime, and shipping and offshore industries, including oil transportation, dry bulk shipments, chemical transportation, oil products transportation, container transportation, car transportation, and drilling rigs.