HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 995 Shares of SFL Co. Ltd. (NYSE:SFL)

HighTower Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of SFL Co. Ltd. (NYSE:SFL) by 8.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,245 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 995 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in SFL were worth $130,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SFL. Centiva Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of SFL during the third quarter valued at about $240,000. PDT Partners LLC lifted its position in SFL by 25.3% during the third quarter. PDT Partners LLC now owns 260,858 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,018,000 after acquiring an additional 52,644 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new stake in SFL in the third quarter valued at approximately $141,000. Captrust Financial Advisors purchased a new position in SFL in the third quarter worth $142,000. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of SFL by 2.4% during the third quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 65,785 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $761,000 after purchasing an additional 1,515 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 28.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Fearnley Fonds raised SFL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st.

SFL Stock Performance

SFL opened at $10.08 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $10.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.59. The company has a market cap of $1.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.08 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.93. SFL Co. Ltd. has a 52-week low of $9.64 and a 52-week high of $14.62.

SFL (NYSE:SFL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The shipping company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $255.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $243.98 million. SFL had a net margin of 16.03% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.23 EPS.

SFL Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.71%. SFL’s payout ratio is presently 97.30%.

SFL Company Profile

SFL Corporation Ltd., a maritime and offshore asset owning and chartering company, engages in the ownership, operation, and chartering out of vessels and offshore related assets on medium and long-term charters. The company operates in various sectors of the maritime, and shipping and offshore industries, including oil transportation, dry bulk shipments, chemical transportation, oil products transportation, container transportation, car transportation, and drilling rigs.