Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) Plans $0.05 Quarterly Dividend

Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 18th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.05 per share by the shipping company on Friday, March 21st. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd.

Safe Bulkers has a payout ratio of 22.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Safe Bulkers to earn $0.58 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 34.5%.

Safe Bulkers Price Performance

SB opened at $3.74 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $3.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $4.17. Safe Bulkers has a 12-month low of $3.31 and a 12-month high of $6.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $393.30 million, a P/E ratio of 4.50 and a beta of 0.90.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The shipping company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.01. Safe Bulkers had a return on equity of 10.04% and a net margin of 31.65%. The firm had revenue of $69.16 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $71.90 million. Equities analysts predict that Safe Bulkers will post 0.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SB. StockNews.com lowered Safe Bulkers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. DNB Markets raised Safe Bulkers from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4.20 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Loop Capital set a $4.20 target price on Safe Bulkers in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $6.00 target price on shares of Safe Bulkers in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th.

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.