Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) Earns Buy Rating from Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group reissued their buy rating on shares of Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) in a report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $6.00 price objective on the shipping company’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on SB. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Safe Bulkers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. DNB Markets raised shares of 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.

Safe Bulkers Price Performance

SB opened at $3.75 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $3.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $4.21. Safe Bulkers has a fifty-two week low of $3.31 and a fifty-two week high of $6.33. The firm has a market cap of $399.89 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.90.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The shipping company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.01. Safe Bulkers had a return on equity of 10.12% and a net margin of 31.65%. The business had revenue of $69.16 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $71.90 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Safe Bulkers will post 0.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Safe Bulkers Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.34%. Safe Bulkers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.10%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in Safe Bulkers by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,306,479 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $11,804,000 after acquiring an additional 32,293 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in Safe Bulkers by 16.7% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,796,424 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $6,413,000 after acquiring an additional 257,136 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Safe Bulkers by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,653,002 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $8,563,000 after acquiring an additional 29,178 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Safe Bulkers by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 1,088,662 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $3,887,000 after acquiring an additional 26,595 shares during the period. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC boosted its position in Safe Bulkers by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 691,769 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,470,000 after acquiring an additional 75,200 shares during the period. 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.