Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) Shares Purchased by Tower Research Capital LLC TRC

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) by 432.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 15,031 shares of the shipping company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,210 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC’s holdings in Safe Bulkers were worth $59,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SB. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Safe Bulkers by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 281,172 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,105,000 after purchasing an additional 43,070 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd raised its stake in shares of Safe Bulkers by 66.9% in the third quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 216,900 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $703,000 after acquiring an additional 86,966 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Safe Bulkers by 8.7% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 122,158 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $396,000 after purchasing an additional 9,826 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Safe Bulkers during the 4th quarter worth $401,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC increased its holdings in Safe Bulkers by 368.2% during the 4th quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 59,933 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $236,000 after purchasing an additional 47,133 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 21.69% of the company’s stock.

Safe Bulkers Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of SB stock traded up $0.08 on Monday, reaching $5.15. 954,385 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 835,422. Safe Bulkers, Inc. has a twelve month low of $2.97 and a twelve month high of $5.24. The company has a current ratio of 2.63, a quick ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a market capitalization of $574.23 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.30 and a beta of 1.02. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $4.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $4.14.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The shipping company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $82.29 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.70 million. Safe Bulkers had a return on equity of 9.05% and a net margin of 27.20%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.29 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Safe Bulkers, Inc. will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Safe Bulkers Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were given a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.89%. Safe Bulkers’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.26%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group raised Safe Bulkers from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $4.00 to $6.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 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.