Jefferies Financial Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) Stock

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) had its price target upped by stock analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $5.00 to $6.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the shipping company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 10.09% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on SB. Zacks Research raised Safe Bulkers from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Safe Bulkers in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $4.80.

Safe Bulkers Price Performance

SB opened at $5.45 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $557.64 million, a P/E ratio of 12.64 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50-day moving average of $4.57 and a 200-day moving average of $4.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a current ratio of 1.70. Safe Bulkers has a 1-year low of $3.02 and a 1-year high of $5.27.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 25th. The shipping company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $73.08 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $66.64 million. Safe Bulkers had a return on equity of 5.80% and a net margin of 19.25%.During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.16 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Safe Bulkers will post 0.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Safe Bulkers

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Regatta Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Safe Bulkers in the second quarter worth about $36,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new position in Safe Bulkers during the 3rd quarter worth $46,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in Safe Bulkers by 73.4% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 11,088 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 4,692 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers bought a new stake in shares of Safe Bulkers in the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Safe Bulkers in the 2nd quarter worth $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.69% of the company’s stock.

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.