Overseas Shipholding Group, Inc.

Jul 07, 2008 (Zacks Investment Research via COMTEX) -- OSG | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Overseas Shipholding Group, Inc. (OSG), transports crude oil and petroleum products around the world with a fleet of 117 vessels and 39 newbuilds. The company has been taking advantage of rising shipping rates as global demand for oil remains strong.

On June 9, Overseas announced that it was increasing its quarterly dividend by 40% to 43.75 cents from 31.25 cents per share due to its recent strong quarterly results. The new dividend will be payable on Aug 27 to shareholders of record on Aug 6.

The company is also starting a new share repurchase program of $250 million. The prior repurchase program, which was for $200 million, ended in the second quarter 2008.

Since the original share repurchase program began on June 9, 2006, OSG has repurchased 9.3 million shares at an average price of $66.25 per share, for a total of $614 million. The company has repurchased 23.43% of the total shares outstanding.

Consensus Estimates Rise for the Second Quarter and the Full Year

Consensus estimates continue to rise. For the second quarter, estimates are up 103% in the last 90 days to $2.64 from $1.30 per share. For the full year, consensus estimates rose 14.4% in the last three months to $8.03 from $7.02 per share.

Overseas Shipholding has a forward P/E of 12.06. The company, a Zacks #2 Rank (Buy), reports second quarter earnings on July 23. Read the June 5 analysis.

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