Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.05

Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 18th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.05 per share by the shipping company on Friday, March 21st. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd.

Safe Bulkers has a dividend payout ratio of 22.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Safe Bulkers to earn $0.63 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 31.7%.

Safe Bulkers Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of SB traded down $0.01 on Wednesday, reaching $3.69. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 742,247 shares, compared to its average volume of 656,051. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Safe Bulkers has a twelve month low of $3.31 and a twelve month high of $6.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $393.48 million, a PE ratio of 4.09 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $3.56 and a 200-day moving average of $4.23.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The shipping company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.01. Safe Bulkers had a net margin of 33.17% and a return on equity of 11.58%. The company had revenue of $69.16 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $71.90 million. Equities analysts predict that Safe Bulkers will post 0.67 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Safe Bulkers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $6.00 price target on shares of Safe Bulkers in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, DNB Markets upgraded shares of Safe Bulkers from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4.20 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th.

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.