Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) Trading Down 4.6%

Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) shares traded down 4.6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $5.86 and last traded at $5.87. 196,407 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 754,797 shares. The stock had previously closed at $6.15.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Safe Bulkers from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st.

Safe Bulkers Trading Down 4.6 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $626.68 million, a P/E ratio of 9.04 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 2.55, a current ratio of 2.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $5.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $4.86.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The shipping company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by ($0.01). Safe Bulkers had a net margin of 27.85% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The company had revenue of $81.67 million during the quarter. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.10 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Safe Bulkers, Inc. will post 0.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Safe Bulkers Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th were given a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. Safe Bulkers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.41%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Safe Bulkers

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in Safe Bulkers by 14.8% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 50,203 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $249,000 after purchasing an additional 6,457 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Safe Bulkers by 26.1% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 19,945 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $99,000 after purchasing an additional 4,129 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Safe Bulkers in the first quarter worth $172,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Safe Bulkers by 135.2% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,898,533 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $9,408,000 after purchasing an additional 1,091,277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Safe Bulkers by 6.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 655,429 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,251,000 after acquiring an additional 38,162 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.