Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.02 EPS

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The shipping company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.02, Zacks reports. Safe Bulkers had a net margin of 19.25% and a return on equity of 5.80%. The firm had revenue of $73.08 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.64 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.16 earnings per share.

Safe Bulkers Stock Performance

NYSE:SB opened at $4.90 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.70. The firm has a market cap of $501.27 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.39 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $4.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $4.21. Safe Bulkers has a 1-year low of $3.02 and a 1-year high of $5.00.

Safe Bulkers Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. Safe Bulkers’s dividend payout ratio is 46.51%.

Institutional Trading of Safe Bulkers

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SB. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Safe Bulkers by 6.0% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,630,636 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $6,017,000 after purchasing an additional 91,662 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Safe Bulkers by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,314,711 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $4,739,000 after purchasing an additional 62,931 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC increased its position in Safe Bulkers by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 1,175,338 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $4,243,000 after purchasing an additional 57,009 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Safe Bulkers by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 765,593 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $3,399,000 after buying an additional 4,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its stake in shares of Safe Bulkers by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 687,698 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $3,053,000 after buying an additional 83,917 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 21.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Safe Bulkers in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research raised Safe Bulkers from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $4.47.

Safe Bulkers Company Profile

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.