Perpetual Ltd Makes New Investment in Star Bulk Carriers Corp. $SBLK

Perpetual Ltd bought a new stake in Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ:SBLK) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 27,819 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $817,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Star Bulk Carriers by 13.0% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,067,637 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $47,494,000 after purchasing an additional 237,248 shares in the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP lifted its holdings in Star Bulk Carriers by 108.1% in the 3rd quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 1,585,263 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $46,543,000 after buying an additional 823,575 shares in the last quarter. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC acquired a new position in Star Bulk Carriers in the 1st quarter worth $19,893,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new position in Star Bulk Carriers in the 1st quarter worth $17,398,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Star Bulk Carriers by 48.5% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 565,562 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $12,991,000 after buying an additional 184,837 shares during the last quarter. 33.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SBLK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Star Bulk Carriers from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Zacks Research lowered Star Bulk Carriers from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Star Bulk Carriers has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.50.

Star Bulk Carriers Stock Down 3.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:SBLK opened at $28.77 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.52. The firm has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a PE ratio of 11.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.12 and a beta of 0.74. Star Bulk Carriers Corp. has a 12-month low of $17.29 and a 12-month high of $32.88.

Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The shipping company reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.26. Star Bulk Carriers had a net margin of 23.87% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The firm had revenue of $284.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $284.29 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Star Bulk Carriers Corp. will post 4.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Star Bulk Carriers Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 21st were given a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 21st. This is an increase from Star Bulk Carriers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Star Bulk Carriers’s payout ratio is presently 141.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Mahesh Balakrishnan sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.34, for a total value of $323,400.00. Following the sale, the director owned 29,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $940,447.20. This represents a 25.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Alexandros Pappas purchased 74,400 shares of Star Bulk Carriers stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $28.27 per share, for a total transaction of $2,103,288.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 2,532,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $71,583,880.50. The trade was a 3.03% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have purchased 170,400 shares of company stock worth $4,817,208 and have sold 101,150 shares worth $3,106,795. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Star Bulk Carriers Company Profile

Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ:SBLK) is a global dry bulk shipping company that owns and operates vessels used to transport major and minor bulk commodities. Its cargoes include iron ore, grains, bauxite, fertilizers, steel products and other raw materials.

The company operates a diversified fleet of dry bulk carriers, including Capesize, Panamax, Ultramax and Supramax vessels. These ships serve international trade routes and transport commodities between producers, exporters and industrial customers across major global markets.

Star Bulk was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Maroussi, Greece.