Safe Bulkers’ (SB) Buy Rating Reiterated at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group reiterated their buy rating on shares of Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) in a research note published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $6.00 price objective on the shipping company’s stock.

SB has been the topic of several other reports. StockNews.com downgraded Safe Bulkers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. DNB Markets upgraded Safe Bulkers from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4.20 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th.

Safe Bulkers Stock Performance

NYSE SB opened at $3.75 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $399.89 million, a P/E ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.90. Safe Bulkers has a 1-year low of $3.31 and a 1-year high of $6.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $3.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4.21.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The shipping company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $69.16 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $71.90 million. Safe Bulkers had a return on equity of 10.12% and a net margin of 31.65%. Equities analysts predict that Safe Bulkers will post 0.62 EPS for the current year.

Safe Bulkers Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.34%. Safe Bulkers’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.10%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Safe Bulkers

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SB. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new stake in Safe Bulkers during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,480,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new stake in Safe Bulkers during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,000,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Safe Bulkers by 16.7% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,796,424 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $6,413,000 after purchasing an additional 257,136 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in Safe Bulkers during the 4th quarter worth approximately $888,000. Finally, Mariner LLC increased its holdings in Safe Bulkers by 148.6% during the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 391,015 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,396,000 after purchasing an additional 233,743 shares during the last quarter. 21.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Safe Bulkers

Safe Bulkers, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides marine drybulk transportation services. It owns and operates drybulk vessels for transporting bulk cargoes primarily coal, grain, and iron ore. The company has a fleet of 47 drybulk vessels having an aggregate carrying capacity of 4,719,600 deadweight tons.