Genco Shipping & Trading Limited (NYSE:GNK) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.42 Per Share

Genco Shipping & Trading Limited (NYSE:GNK) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 9th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be given a dividend of 0.42 per share by the shipping company on Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.40%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st. This is a positive change from Genco Shipping & Trading’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41.

Genco Shipping & Trading has raised its dividend payment by an average of 59.3% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 1 years. Genco Shipping & Trading has a payout ratio of 72.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Genco Shipping & Trading to earn $2.43 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 67.5%.

Genco Shipping & Trading Price Performance

Genco Shipping & Trading stock opened at $22.70 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.66. The company has a quick ratio of 3.70, a current ratio of 4.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $970.26 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -73.21 and a beta of 1.11. Genco Shipping & Trading has a 52-week low of $12.39 and a 52-week high of $23.43.

Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE:GNK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The shipping company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.03. Genco Shipping & Trading had a negative net margin of 3.35% and a positive return on equity of 3.10%. The company had revenue of $117.44 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $77.31 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.06 EPS. Genco Shipping & Trading’s revenue was up 24.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Genco Shipping & Trading will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Genco Shipping & Trading

In related news, CAO Joseph Adamo sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.87, for a total transaction of $119,220.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $341,803.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CAO Joseph Adamo sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.87, for a total transaction of $119,220.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $341,803.74. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jesper Christensen sold 12,404 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.80, for a total value of $245,599.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 42,587 shares in the company, valued at approximately $843,222.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 62,496 shares of company stock worth $1,238,678. 2.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on GNK shares. TheStreet raised shares of Genco Shipping & Trading from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Genco Shipping & Trading from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Genco Shipping & Trading from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Genco Shipping & Trading from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.33.

About Genco Shipping & Trading

Genco Shipping & Trading Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the ocean transportation of drybulk cargoes worldwide. The company owns and operates dry bulk vessels to transports iron ore, grains, coal, steel products, and other drybulk cargoes. It charters its vessels primarily to trading houses, including commodities traders; producers; and government-owned entities.