Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:SHIP) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:SHIP) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 304,100 shares, an increase of 35.8% from the October 15th total of 224,000 shares. Approximately 2.3% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 243,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.3 days.

Seanergy Maritime Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SHIP traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $9.04. The company had a trading volume of 219,995 shares, compared to its average volume of 250,082. Seanergy Maritime has a one year low of $5.29 and a one year high of $13.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $187.13 million, a P/E ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $10.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.62.

Seanergy Maritime (NASDAQ:SHIP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The shipping company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.07. Seanergy Maritime had a net margin of 28.37% and a return on equity of 19.01%. The company had revenue of $44.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $42.10 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.28) EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Seanergy Maritime will post 2.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Seanergy Maritime Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.50%. This is a boost from Seanergy Maritime’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Seanergy Maritime’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.74%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on SHIP. StockNews.com cut shares of Seanergy Maritime from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Noble Financial raised Seanergy Maritime to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SHIP. Quarry LP lifted its stake in Seanergy Maritime by 77.9% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,017 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,321 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. bought a new position in shares of Seanergy Maritime in the 3rd quarter worth about $179,000. ORG Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Seanergy Maritime in the 2nd quarter valued at about $191,000. PDT Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Seanergy Maritime during the 3rd quarter valued at about $194,000. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Seanergy Maritime during the second quarter worth about $213,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 29.36% of the company’s stock.

About Seanergy Maritime

Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp., a shipping company, provides seaborne transportation of dry bulk commodities worldwide. It operates a fleet of 16 Capesize dry bulk vessels and one Newcastlemax dry bulk vessel with a cargo-carrying capacity of approximately 3,054,820 dwt. The company was formerly known as Seanergy Merger Corp.