Short Interest in Genco Shipping & Trading Limited (NYSE:GNK) Grows By 37.7%

Genco Shipping & Trading Limited (NYSE:GNK) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,190,000 shares, a growth of 37.7% from the February 13th total of 864,100 shares. Approximately 2.9% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 548,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.2 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Joseph Adamo sold 6,226 shares of Genco Shipping & Trading stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.96, for a total transaction of $86,914.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $374,532.84. This trade represents a 18.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jesper Christensen sold 13,602 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.96, for a total transaction of $189,883.92. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,322 shares in the company, valued at approximately $800,215.12. This represents a 19.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 28,812 shares of company stock valued at $402,216 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Genco Shipping & Trading

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Genco Shipping & Trading during the 3rd quarter valued at $812,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Genco Shipping & Trading by 70.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 530,523 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $10,345,000 after purchasing an additional 219,907 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Genco Shipping & Trading by 155.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 285,091 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $5,559,000 after purchasing an additional 173,270 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Genco Shipping & Trading by 499.7% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 103,387 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $2,016,000 after purchasing an additional 86,147 shares during the period. Finally, Townsend & Associates Inc boosted its stake in Genco Shipping & Trading by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Townsend & Associates Inc now owns 1,071,959 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $15,318,000 after buying an additional 23,101 shares during the period. 58.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on GNK shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Genco Shipping & Trading from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Genco Shipping & Trading from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.00.

Genco Shipping & Trading Stock Performance

Shares of GNK stock traded down $0.22 on Tuesday, hitting $13.65. 73,651 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 511,406. The company has a current ratio of 3.09, a quick ratio of 2.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $583.65 million, a PE ratio of 7.77, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.99. Genco Shipping & Trading has a one year low of $13.36 and a one year high of $23.43. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $14.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.72.

Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE:GNK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The shipping company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.27). The firm had revenue of $67.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $67.36 million. Genco Shipping & Trading had a return on equity of 7.82% and a net margin of 18.06%. Sell-side analysts expect that Genco Shipping & Trading will post 0.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Genco Shipping & Trading Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.79%. Genco Shipping & Trading’s payout ratio is 68.57%.

Genco Shipping & Trading Company Profile

Genco Shipping & Trading Ltd. is an international ship owning company, which engages in the transportation of iron ore, coal, grain, steel products, and other drybulk cargoes. The company was founded on September 27, 2004 and is headquartered in New York, NY.