Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Monday.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $6.00 price objective on shares of Safe Bulkers in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. DNB Markets raised shares of Safe Bulkers from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4.20 target price on the stock in a report on Monday.

Safe Bulkers Stock Up 3.3 %

SB stock opened at $3.57 on Monday. Safe Bulkers has a fifty-two week low of $3.31 and a fifty-two week high of $6.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $380.67 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $3.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.41.

Safe Bulkers Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Safe Bulkers’s payout ratio is currently 22.22%.

Institutional Trading of Safe Bulkers

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SB. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Safe Bulkers by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 546,562 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,951,000 after buying an additional 26,595 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in Safe Bulkers by 19.6% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 25,204 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $90,000 after acquiring an additional 4,122 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new position in Safe Bulkers during the fourth quarter worth about $89,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Safe Bulkers by 107.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 82,417 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 42,598 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Safe Bulkers by 83.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 125,238 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $648,000 after acquiring an additional 56,946 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.