Diana Shipping Inc. (DSX) Upgraded to “Buy” at Zacks Investment Research

Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Diana Shipping Inc. (NYSE:DSX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Tuesday. Zacks Investment Research currently has $4.25 price target on the shipping company’s stock.

According to Zacks, “Diana Shipping Inc. is a global provider of shipping transportation services. They specialize in transporting dry bulk cargoes, including such commodities as iron ore, coal, grain and other materials along worldwide shipping routes. “

DSX has been the subject of several other research reports. J P Morgan Chase & Co upgraded Diana Shipping from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and set a $8.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, April 7th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a hold rating and issued a $5.25 price objective on shares of Diana Shipping in a research note on Friday, May 26th. Jefferies Group LLC dropped their target price on Diana Shipping from $5.00 to $4.50 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 25th.

ValuEngine raised Diana Shipping from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, June 13th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group set a $3.00 price objective on Diana Shipping and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Saturday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Diana Shipping presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $4.36.

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $3.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $4.00. Diana Shipping has a 1-year low of $2.21 and a 1-year high of $6.20. The stock’s market capitalization is $341.26 million.

Diana Shipping (NYSE:DSX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 23rd. The shipping company reported ($0.34) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.37) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $31.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.69 million. Diana Shipping had a negative return on equity of 9.28% and a negative net margin of 83.00%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.41) EPS. Equities analysts predict that Diana Shipping will post ($0.99) EPS for the current year.

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. DnB Asset Management AS bought a new stake in Diana Shipping during the second quarter worth about $741,000. Ironwood Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Diana Shipping by 1.4% in the first quarter. Ironwood Investment Management LLC now owns 30,192 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $139,000 after buying an additional 426 shares during the period. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Diana Shipping during the first quarter worth about $205,000. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Diana Shipping by 99.7% in the first quarter.

Morgan Stanley now owns 317,079 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,464,000 after buying an additional 158,283 shares during the period. Finally, Hosking Partners LLP raised its stake in Diana Shipping by 57.1% in the first quarter. Hosking Partners LLP now owns 2,253,848 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $10,413,000 after buying an additional 819,219 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.79% of the company’s stock.

Source: MarketBeat