Jefferies Financial Group Raises Navios Maritime Partners (NYSE:NMM) Price Target to $80.00

Navios Maritime Partners (NYSE:NMM) had its price target raised by Jefferies Financial Group from $65.00 to $80.00 in a research report report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the shipping company’s stock.

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Navios Maritime Partners from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st.

Navios Maritime Partners Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NMM opened at $57.10 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.72 billion, a PE ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 1.97. Navios Maritime Partners has a fifty-two week low of $21.18 and a fifty-two week high of $58.22. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Navios Maritime Partners (NYSE:NMM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 20th. The shipping company reported $3.06 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.22. Navios Maritime Partners had a return on equity of 13.86% and a net margin of 30.28%. The company had revenue of $342.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $312.39 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.32 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Navios Maritime Partners will post 14.8 EPS for the current year.

Navios Maritime Partners Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Navios Maritime Partners’s payout ratio is currently 1.51%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Navios Maritime Partners

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC raised its stake in Navios Maritime Partners by 2,977.2% during the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 750,835 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $38,315,000 after acquiring an additional 726,435 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Navios Maritime Partners by 870.2% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 126,709 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $6,463,000 after purchasing an additional 113,649 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in Navios Maritime Partners by 748.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 55,109 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $2,812,000 after buying an additional 48,612 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC bought a new position in Navios Maritime Partners in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,064,000. Finally, Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. acquired a new position in Navios Maritime Partners during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,375,000. 62.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Navios Maritime Partners

Navios Maritime Partners L.P. owns and operates dry cargo vessels in Asia, Europe, North America, and Australia. The company offers seaborne transportation services for a range of liquid and dry cargo commodities, including crude oil, refined petroleum, chemicals, iron ore, coal, grain, fertilizer, and containers, as well as charters its vessels under short, medium, and longer-term charters.