Frontline plc (NYSE:FRO) Shares Sold by Citigroup Inc.

Citigroup Inc. lowered its position in Frontline plc (NYSE:FRO – Get Rating) by 73.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 205,373 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 571,993 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc.’s holdings in Frontline were worth $2,493,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in FRO. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Frontline by 20.4% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 461,429 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $4,061,000 after purchasing an additional 78,255 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of Frontline by 10.6% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 212,836 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,873,000 after purchasing an additional 20,417 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Frontline by 7.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,457,223 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $39,225,000 after purchasing an additional 293,141 shares during the period. Ergoteles LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Frontline in the first quarter valued at approximately $112,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Frontline by 6.0% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 274,217 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $2,414,000 after purchasing an additional 15,618 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 35.91% of the company’s stock.

Frontline Trading Down 1.2 %

Frontline stock opened at $14.36 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.20 billion, a PE ratio of 6.68 and a beta of 0.21. Frontline plc has a 12-month low of $7.51 and a 12-month high of $19.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 2.25 and a quick ratio of 1.98. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.92.

Frontline (NYSE:FRO – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 28th. The shipping company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $530.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $363.39 million. Frontline had a return on equity of 17.23% and a net margin of 33.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 148.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.02) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Frontline plc will post 3.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Frontline Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, March 16th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.36%. This is a boost from Frontline’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 15th. Frontline’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 199.07%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on FRO. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Frontline in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “sell” rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Frontline from $16.50 to $19.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Frontline from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $17.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.33.

About Frontline

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Frontline Plc is an international shipping company, which engages in the ownership and operation of oil and product tankers. It also offers the seaborne transportation of crude oil and oil products. The company was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Limmasol, Cyprus.