Navios Maritime Partners (NYSE:NMM) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Navios Maritime Partners (NYSE:NMM) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Thursday.

Navios Maritime Partners Trading Down 1.0 %

NMM stock opened at $39.33 on Thursday. Navios Maritime Partners has a 52 week low of $37.75 and a 52 week high of $65.89. The company has a market capitalization of $1.18 billion, a PE ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 1.87. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.13.

Navios Maritime Partners (NYSE:NMM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The shipping company reported $2.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.54 by ($1.93). Navios Maritime Partners had a return on equity of 11.64% and a net margin of 27.53%. The company had revenue of $302.99 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $340.83 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Navios Maritime Partners will post 12.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Navios Maritime Partners Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Navios Maritime Partners’s dividend payout ratio is 1.67%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Navios Maritime Partners

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ion Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Navios Maritime Partners by 81.9% in the 4th quarter. Ion Asset Management Ltd. now owns 805,678 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $34,878,000 after buying an additional 362,678 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Navios Maritime Partners by 38.3% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 160,834 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $6,963,000 after acquiring an additional 44,576 shares during the last quarter. Natixis lifted its holdings in shares of Navios Maritime Partners by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Natixis now owns 124,727 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $5,399,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its stake in shares of Navios Maritime Partners by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 76,031 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $3,291,000 after purchasing an additional 1,901 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ING Groep NV increased its holdings in Navios Maritime Partners by 446.2% in the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 71,000 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,074,000 after purchasing an additional 58,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.74% of the company’s stock.

About Navios Maritime Partners

Navios Maritime Partners L.P. owns and operates dry cargo vessels in Asia, Europe, North America, and Australia. The company offers seaborne transportation services for a range of liquid and dry cargo commodities, including crude oil, refined petroleum, chemicals, iron ore, coal, grain, fertilizer, and containers, as well as charters its vessels under short, medium, and longer-term charters.