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Analysts at Chicago-based investment research firm Zacks Investment Research have upgraded shares of Aegean Marine Petroleum Network from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating.

Shares of Aegean on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) opened at $4.99 per share on Friday. The company has a 52-week trading range of $3.19 - $17.79. The stock's 50-day moving average is $4.93 and its 200-day moving average is $6.65. The company has a market capitalization of $230.11 million.

In its last financial results published for the second quarter of 2011, Aegean reported that net income fell US$8.8 million, or 73.3 percent, in a comparison with the same period last year.

Net income for the three months ended June 30, 2011 was $3.2 million, or $0.07 basic and diluted earnings per share compared to a net income of $12.0 million, or $0.25 basic and diluted earnings per share, in 2010.

Total revenues during the second quarter climbed 32.8 percent to $1,774.9 million compared to $1,336.6 million for the same period in 2010.

Sales of marine petroleum products increased by 32.6 percent to $1,766.3 million compared to $1,331.8 million for the year-earlier period.

The volume of marine fuel sold between April and June declined by 7.0 percent to 2,635,881 metric tonnes compared to 2,825,046 metric tonnes in the year-earlier period.