Aristides Capital LLC Takes $256,000 Position in TORM plc (NASDAQ:TRMD)

Aristides Capital LLC purchased a new position in TORM plc (NASDAQ:TRMD) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 7,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TRMD. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of TORM by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,179,417 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,221,000 after acquiring an additional 85,937 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in TORM in the fourth quarter worth $22,306,000. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in TORM during the first quarter valued at $2,836,000. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of TORM by 18.4% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 79,609 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,700,000 after purchasing an additional 12,353 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of TORM in the 4th quarter worth about $2,000,000. 73.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of TORM from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd.

TORM Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TRMD traded down $0.05 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $37.50. 446,775 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 455,251. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.37 and a current ratio of 2.60. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $37.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.50. TORM plc has a twelve month low of $22.80 and a twelve month high of $40.47.

TORM (NASDAQ:TRMD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.21 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $444.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $332.61 million. TORM had a return on equity of 39.79% and a net margin of 44.74%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that TORM plc will post 7.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TORM Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 16.00%. This is a boost from TORM’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. TORM’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.30%.

TORM Profile

TORM plc, a shipping company, owns and operates a fleet of product tankers in the United Kingdom. It operates in two operating segments, Tanker and Marine Exhaust. The Tanker segment transports refined oil products, such as gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, naphtha, and gas oil, as well as dirty petroleum products, including fuel oil.