Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) Issues Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.02 EPS

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The shipping company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.02, Zacks reports. Safe Bulkers had a net margin of 19.25% and a return on equity of 5.80%. The business had revenue of $73.08 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.64 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.16 earnings per share.

Safe Bulkers Stock Performance

SB opened at $5.36 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $548.13 million, a P/E ratio of 12.46 and a beta of 1.23. Safe Bulkers has a 1-year low of $3.02 and a 1-year high of $5.54. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $4.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $4.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.70.

Safe Bulkers Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. Safe Bulkers’s payout ratio is currently 46.51%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Safe Bulkers

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SB. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Safe Bulkers by 5.9% in the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 43,299 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $156,000 after acquiring an additional 2,423 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Safe Bulkers by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 765,593 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $3,399,000 after purchasing an additional 4,300 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in Safe Bulkers by 73.4% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 11,088 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 4,692 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC grew its holdings in Safe Bulkers by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 135,870 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $501,000 after buying an additional 4,836 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC raised its position in shares of Safe Bulkers by 49.5% during the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 16,622 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 5,500 shares during the last quarter. 21.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on SB. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Safe Bulkers in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Safe Bulkers from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Zacks Research raised Safe Bulkers from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Safe Bulkers has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $4.80.

Safe Bulkers Company Profile

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.