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

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday. The shipping company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.02, Zacks reports. Safe Bulkers had a return on equity of 10.04% and a net margin of 31.65%. The firm had revenue of $64.35 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $57.92 million.

Safe Bulkers Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of SB opened at $3.73 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $3.50 and its 200 day moving average is $3.67. The company has a market capitalization of $392.77 million, a PE ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 1.17. Safe Bulkers has a 12-month low of $3.02 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.

Safe Bulkers Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.36%. Safe Bulkers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.10%.

Institutional Trading of Safe Bulkers

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jane Street Group LLC grew its holdings in Safe Bulkers by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 135,870 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $501,000 after buying an additional 4,836 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in Safe Bulkers by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 576,229 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $2,126,000 after buying an additional 29,667 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Safe Bulkers by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,630,636 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $6,017,000 after buying an additional 91,662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Safe Bulkers by 67.0% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 68,052 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $251,000 after buying an additional 27,292 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 21.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.