TORM plc (NASDAQ:TRMD) Short Interest Up 59.0% in August

TORM plc (NASDAQ:TRMD) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,830,000 shares, a growth of 59.0% from the August 15th total of 1,780,000 shares. Approximately 5.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 638,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.4 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TORM

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of TORM in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $22,306,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in TORM by 65.3% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 9,420 shares of the company’s stock worth $286,000 after acquiring an additional 3,720 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new stake in shares of TORM during the 4th quarter valued at $546,000. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in TORM during the 4th quarter worth about $681,000. Finally, Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of TORM in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. 73.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of TORM from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd.

TORM Stock Performance

Shares of TORM stock traded up $0.36 on Friday, reaching $34.05. The company had a trading volume of 650,552 shares, compared to its average volume of 818,179. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 3.18 and a quick ratio of 2.94. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $36.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.99. TORM has a 52-week low of $25.05 and a 52-week high of $40.47.

TORM (NASDAQ:TRMD) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $437.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $325.38 million. TORM had a return on equity of 36.06% and a net margin of 43.81%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.14 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that TORM will post 7.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TORM Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 29th were issued a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 21.15%. This is an increase from TORM’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 29th. TORM’s payout ratio is presently 66.41%.

TORM Company Profile

TORM plc, a shipping company, owns and operates a fleet of product tankers in the United Kingdom. It operates in two operating segments, Tanker and Marine Exhaust. The Tanker segment transports refined oil products, such as gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, naphtha, and gas oil, as well as dirty petroleum products, including fuel oil.