NuStar Energy (NYSE:NS) Now Covered by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of NuStar Energy (NYSE:NS) in a research report sent to investors on Saturday. The brokerage issued a buy rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on NS. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a hold rating and set a $23.00 price target (up from $20.00) on shares of NuStar Energy in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Raymond James reaffirmed a market perform rating on shares of NuStar Energy in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an underweight rating and set a $19.00 price target on shares of NuStar Energy in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded NuStar Energy from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and lifted their price target for the company from $18.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $19.43.

NuStar Energy Price Performance

NYSE NS opened at $21.25 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $23.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.08. The company has a market cap of $2.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.93 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.76, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.76. NuStar Energy has a 1 year low of $14.70 and a 1 year high of $24.50.

NuStar Energy (NYSE:NS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The pipeline company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $451.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $433.69 million. NuStar Energy had a return on equity of 107.61% and a net margin of 16.75%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.34 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that NuStar Energy will post 1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

NuStar Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 7th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.53%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 6th. NuStar Energy’s payout ratio is 225.35%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NuStar Energy

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NuStar Energy by 30.0% during the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 19,865,418 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $346,453,000 after purchasing an additional 4,586,344 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NuStar Energy by 42.8% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 132,684 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,314,000 after purchasing an additional 39,772 shares during the last quarter. Fractal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NuStar Energy by 33.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fractal Investments LLC now owns 643,707 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $11,226,000 after purchasing an additional 160,270 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NuStar Energy by 71.8% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 163,759 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,856,000 after purchasing an additional 68,431 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NuStar Energy by 47.4% during the 3rd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,149,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $37,490,000 after purchasing an additional 691,604 shares during the last quarter. 63.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NuStar Energy Company Profile

NuStar Energy L.P. engages in the transportation, terminalling, and storage of petroleum products and renewable fuels, and transportation of anhydrous ammonia in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Pipeline, Storage, and Fuels Marketing. The Pipeline segment engages in the transportation of refined products, crude oil, and anhydrous ammonia.