Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) Shares Pass Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Safe Bulkers, Inc (NYSE:SB)’s share price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $3.92 and traded as high as $4.40. Safe Bulkers shares last traded at $4.36, with a volume of 285,619 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded Safe Bulkers from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Safe Bulkers in a report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Safe Bulkers currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $4.47.

Safe Bulkers Trading Down 0.7%

The company has a market capitalization of $446.12 million, a P/E ratio of 10.14 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $4.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $3.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The shipping company reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $65.75 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.40 million. Safe Bulkers had a net margin of 19.25% and a return on equity of 5.80%. On average, analysts expect that Safe Bulkers, Inc will post 0.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Safe Bulkers Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st were given a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.6%. Safe Bulkers’s payout ratio is currently 46.51%.

Institutional Trading of Safe Bulkers

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Regatta Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Safe Bulkers in the second quarter valued at about $36,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in shares of Safe Bulkers by 73.4% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 11,088 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 4,692 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new stake in shares of Safe Bulkers in the second quarter valued at about $41,000. Evergreen Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Safe Bulkers in the second quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Safe Bulkers in the first quarter valued at about $49,000. 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.