Eagle Bulk Shipping (NASDAQ:EGLE) Price Target Increased to $70.00 by Analysts at BTIG Research

Eagle Bulk Shipping (NASDAQ:EGLE – Get Rating) had its price target lifted by BTIG Research from $60.00 to $70.00 in a research note published on Monday, The Fly reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the shipping company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on shares of Eagle Bulk Shipping in a research note on Thursday, September 29th. They set a buy rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Eagle Bulk Shipping from $64.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Monday, September 26th. B. Riley lowered their price objective on shares of Eagle Bulk Shipping from $82.00 to $72.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 10th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Eagle Bulk Shipping in a research note on Wednesday, October 12th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Finally, Noble Financial reissued a buy rating and issued a $84.00 price objective on shares of Eagle Bulk Shipping in a research note on Monday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Eagle Bulk Shipping has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $74.71.

Eagle Bulk Shipping Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of Eagle Bulk Shipping stock opened at $53.71 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $734.81 million, a P/E ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.06. Eagle Bulk Shipping has a one year low of $38.10 and a one year high of $78.75. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $50.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.08.

Eagle Bulk Shipping (NASDAQ:EGLE – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 3rd. The shipping company reported $4.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.31 by $0.27. Eagle Bulk Shipping had a net margin of 41.46% and a return on equity of 39.29%. The business had revenue of $144.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $136.83 million. On average, analysts forecast that Eagle Bulk Shipping will post 16.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Eagle Bulk Shipping Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.41%. Eagle Bulk Shipping’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Gary Vogel sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.79, for a total transaction of $761,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 147,521 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,492,591.59. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Eagle Bulk Shipping

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Eagle Bulk Shipping by 35.4% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 708,413 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $30,589,000 after purchasing an additional 185,277 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Eagle Bulk Shipping by 2.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 542,395 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $36,942,000 after buying an additional 11,633 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Eagle Bulk Shipping by 12.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 501,597 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $21,659,000 after buying an additional 55,486 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of Eagle Bulk Shipping by 115.4% during the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 309,938 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $13,386,000 after buying an additional 166,080 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Eagle Bulk Shipping by 38.0% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 250,347 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $12,988,000 after buying an additional 68,949 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.88% of the company’s stock.

About Eagle Bulk Shipping

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Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc engages in the ocean transportation of dry bulk cargoes worldwide. The company owns, charters, and operates dry bulk vessels that transport a range of bulk cargoes, including iron ore, coal, grains, fertilizers, steel products, petcoke, cement, and forest products. It serves miners, producers, traders, and end users.