Tidewater (NYSE:TDW) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold” Rating

Tidewater (NYSE:TDW) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

Separately, Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Tidewater from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $111.25.

Tidewater Stock Down 1.6 %

TDW traded down $1.03 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $64.15. 1,280,902 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 889,870. Tidewater has a 12-month low of $54.53 and a 12-month high of $111.42. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $69.41 and a 200 day moving average of $87.19. The firm has a market cap of $3.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.24 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Tidewater (NYSE:TDW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The oil and gas company reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.22. Tidewater had a net margin of 12.77% and a return on equity of 18.04%. The firm had revenue of $339.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $331.85 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 57.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Tidewater will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Tidewater announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, August 6th that permits the company to repurchase $13.90 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the oil and gas company to repurchase up to 0.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TDW. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of Tidewater by 22.5% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 38,597 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,551,000 after buying an additional 7,087 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Tidewater in the 1st quarter valued at $1,473,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC purchased a new position in shares of Tidewater in the 1st quarter valued at $865,000. Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Tidewater in the 1st quarter valued at $543,000. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Tidewater in the 1st quarter valued at $325,000. 95.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Tidewater Company Profile

Tidewater Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides offshore support vessels and marine support services to the offshore energy industry through the operation of a fleet of marine service vessels worldwide. It provides services in support of offshore oil and gas exploration, field development, and production, as well as windfarm development and maintenance, including towing of and anchor handling for mobile offshore drilling units; transporting supplies and personnel necessary to sustain drilling, workover, and production activities; offshore construction, and seismic and subsea support; geotechnical survey support for windfarm construction; and various specialized services, such as pipe and cable laying.