Golden Ocean Group Limited Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.15 (NASDAQ:GOGL)

Golden Ocean Group Limited (NASDAQ:GOGL) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 27th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of 0.15 per share by the shipping company on Friday, March 21st. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th.

Golden Ocean Group has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 9.1% annually over the last three years. Golden Ocean Group has a dividend payout ratio of 71.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Golden Ocean Group to earn $0.95 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $1.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 126.3%.

Golden Ocean Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOGL traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $9.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,943,115 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,046,670. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The company has a market capitalization of $1.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.14 and a beta of 1.16. Golden Ocean Group has a twelve month low of $8.52 and a twelve month high of $15.77. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.65.

Golden Ocean Group (NASDAQ:GOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 27th. The shipping company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.04. Golden Ocean Group had a return on equity of 13.14% and a net margin of 23.89%. On average, analysts anticipate that Golden Ocean Group will post 1.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Pareto Securities restated a “hold” rating and set a $12.50 price objective on shares of Golden Ocean Group in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $10.00 price objective on shares of Golden Ocean Group in a report on Wednesday.

About Golden Ocean Group

Golden Ocean Group Limited, a shipping company, owns and operates a fleet of dry bulk vessels worldwide. The company’s dry bulk vessels comprise Newcastlemax, Capesize, and Panamax vessels operating in the spot and time charter markets. It also transports a range of bulk commodities, including ores, coal, grains, and fertilizers.