Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Buys Shares of 15,772 Genco Shipping & Trading Limited (NYSE:GNK)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management purchased a new position in Genco Shipping & Trading Limited (NYSE:GNK) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 15,772 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Genco Shipping & Trading by 22.6% in the fourth quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 33,330 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $465,000 after acquiring an additional 6,150 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Genco Shipping & Trading by 35.2% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 28,633 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $399,000 after purchasing an additional 7,457 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Genco Shipping & Trading by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 29,881 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $417,000 after buying an additional 3,142 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Genco Shipping & Trading by 830.3% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,033 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $154,000 after buying an additional 9,847 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accurate Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Genco Shipping & Trading by 92.8% in the fourth quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 66,253 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $960,000 after buying an additional 31,890 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GNK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of Genco Shipping & Trading in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Genco Shipping & Trading from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $26.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Genco Shipping & Trading from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $24.20.

Genco Shipping & Trading Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GNK opened at $14.65 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $626.22 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 0.99. Genco Shipping & Trading Limited has a 12 month low of $13.51 and a 12 month high of $23.43. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $14.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.71.

Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE:GNK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The shipping company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.41. The business had revenue of $99.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.02 million. Genco Shipping & Trading had a return on equity of 8.46% and a net margin of 15.63%. The business’s revenue was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.09) EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Genco Shipping & Trading Limited will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

Genco Shipping & Trading Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This is a positive change from Genco Shipping & Trading’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.93%. Genco Shipping & Trading’s dividend payout ratio is 101.91%.

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.