Euroseas Ltd. (NASDAQ:ESEA) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Euroseas Ltd. (NASDAQ:ESEA) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 35,519 shares, a drop of 30.2% from the February 26th total of 50,860 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 86,107 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.4 days. Approximately 1.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ESEA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Euroseas in a report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen raised Euroseas from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Euroseas presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Russell Investments Group Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Euroseas in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Euroseas by 387.8% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,117 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 888 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in Euroseas by 540.0% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,280 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 1,080 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Euroseas in the 3rd quarter valued at $89,000. Finally, Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Euroseas in the 3rd quarter valued at $205,000. 6.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Euroseas Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ESEA traded down $1.80 during trading on Friday, hitting $60.81. The company had a trading volume of 84,487 shares, compared to its average volume of 88,339. The firm has a market capitalization of $426.28 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.80. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.95. The company has a quick ratio of 4.82, a current ratio of 4.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Euroseas has a fifty-two week low of $26.30 and a fifty-two week high of $72.86.

Euroseas (NASDAQ:ESEA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The shipping company reported $4.48 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.47 by $0.01. Euroseas had a return on equity of 27.82% and a net margin of 60.11%.The firm had revenue of $57.39 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $57.83 million. On average, research analysts expect that Euroseas will post 15.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Euroseas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Euroseas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Euroseas’s payout ratio is currently 15.29%.

About Euroseas

Euroseas Ltd. (NASDAQ: ESEA) is an international shipping company specializing in seaborne transportation of containerized and drybulk cargoes. Incorporated in Bermuda with its principal operations and management office based in Athens, Greece, the company owns and charters a diversified fleet of containerships, drybulk carriers and multipurpose vessels. Euroseas provides tailored shipping solutions on time-charter and voyage-charter agreements, serving manufacturers, commodity traders and logistics providers across major trade routes.

Euroseas’s fleet comprises both owned and chartered tonnage, enabling the company to adjust capacity to market conditions and customer requirements.