Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) Upgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning.

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Safe Bulkers from a hold rating to a buy rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $4.00 to $6.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 27th.

Safe Bulkers Stock Performance

NYSE SB opened at $5.05 on Wednesday. Safe Bulkers has a 1 year low of $2.97 and a 1 year high of $5.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 2.55 and a quick ratio of 2.33. The firm has a market cap of $563.63 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.43 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $4.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $4.16.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The shipping company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.21 by ($0.01). Safe Bulkers had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 27.85%. The firm had revenue of $81.67 million during the quarter. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.10 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Safe Bulkers will post 0.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Safe Bulkers Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Safe Bulkers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.41%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Safe Bulkers

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SB. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in Safe Bulkers by 432.8% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 15,031 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 12,210 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Safe Bulkers by 8.7% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 122,158 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $396,000 after purchasing an additional 9,826 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Safe Bulkers during the fourth quarter valued at about $85,000. Welch Group LLC lifted its holdings in Safe Bulkers by 30.0% during the fourth quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 13,000 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Safe Bulkers by 47.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 43,320 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $140,000 after purchasing an additional 14,001 shares during the last quarter. 21.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.