Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. (ANW) Lifted to “Buy” at Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. (NYSE:ANW) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Friday, June 2nd, Marketbeat reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has $9.00 price objective on the oil and gas company’s stock. The analysts noted that the move was a valuation call.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Zacks Investment Research lowered Aegean Marine Petroleum Network from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 9th. TheStreet lowered Aegean Marine Petroleum Network from a b- rating to a c rating in a research note on Thursday, May 25th. Finally, Clarkson Capital cut Aegean Marine Petroleum Network from a buy rating to a neutral rating and dropped their target price for the company from $16.00 to $8.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. The company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $10.75.

The company’s 50-day moving average is $6.82 and its 200 day moving average is $9.92. Aegean Marine Petroleum Network has a 12 month low of $4.60 and a 12 month high of $13.10. The company has a market cap of $222.86 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 2.29.

Aegean Marine Petroleum Network (NYSE:ANW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $1.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. Aegean Marine Petroleum Network had a net margin of 0.86% and a return on equity of 9.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 102.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.24 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Aegean Marine Petroleum Network will post $0.60 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 6th were given a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. Aegean Marine Petroleum Network’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.60%.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Karp Capital Management Corp bought a new position in Aegean Marine Petroleum Network during the first quarter valued at approximately $152,000. Brandes Investment Partners LP raised its position in Aegean Marine Petroleum Network by 11.8% in the first quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 13,339 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $161,000 after buying an additional 1,407 shares in the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Aegean Marine Petroleum Network by 22.9% in the fourth quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP now owns 13,400 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $136,000 after buying an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Boothbay Fund Management LLC raised its position in shares of Aegean Marine Petroleum Network by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC now owns 13,937 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $141,000 after buying an additional 736 shares during the period. Finally, ClariVest Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Aegean Marine Petroleum Network by 5.4% in the first quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC now owns 16,454 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $198,000 after buying an additional 840 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.80% of the company’s stock.