Dorian LPG (NYSE:LPG) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Dorian LPG (NYSE:LPG) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Sunday.

LPG has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Dorian LPG from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Dorian LPG in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Pareto Securities cut Dorian LPG from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.00.

Dorian LPG Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LPG opened at $25.86 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.42. The company has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.60 and a beta of 0.76. Dorian LPG has a fifty-two week low of $16.66 and a fifty-two week high of $32.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 3.30 and a current ratio of 3.32.

Dorian LPG (NYSE:LPG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The shipping company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.40 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $124.06 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $126.99 million. Dorian LPG had a return on equity of 9.13% and a net margin of 26.02%.The company’s revenue was up 50.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.35 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Dorian LPG will post 2.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dorian LPG Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. This is a positive change from Dorian LPG’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dorian LPG

In related news, COO Alexander C. Hadjipateras sold 5,000 shares of Dorian LPG stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.38, for a total transaction of $161,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 89,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,896,067.20. The trade was a 5.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 13.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Dorian LPG

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LPG. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in shares of Dorian LPG in the second quarter valued at about $165,210,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Dorian LPG by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,493,668 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $74,312,000 after purchasing an additional 13,241 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Dorian LPG by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,697,048 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $50,572,000 after purchasing an additional 99,485 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Dorian LPG by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,667,332 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $49,686,000 after purchasing an additional 41,701 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Dorian LPG by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,112,333 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $27,121,000 after purchasing an additional 40,859 shares during the period. 62.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Dorian LPG Company Profile

Dorian LPG Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the transportation of liquefied petroleum gas through its LPG tankers worldwide. It owns and operates twenty-five very large gas carriers. The company was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.