Bleakley Financial Group LLC Buys New Shares in Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 21,520 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $85,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Safe Bulkers by 2,201.5% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 945,506 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $2,751,000 after acquiring an additional 904,423 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Safe Bulkers by 514.2% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 583,167 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $2,776,000 after acquiring an additional 488,221 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Safe Bulkers by 212.7% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 699,564 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,672,000 after acquiring an additional 475,815 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in Safe Bulkers by 12.1% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,107,086 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $19,550,000 after purchasing an additional 442,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Safe Bulkers by 16.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,612,753 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $12,437,000 after purchasing an additional 372,140 shares in the last quarter. 21.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Safe Bulkers from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $4.00 to $6.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th.

Safe Bulkers Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SB opened at $4.73 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $4.70 and a 200-day moving average of $4.03. Safe Bulkers, Inc. has a 12 month low of $2.97 and a 12 month high of $5.15. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $527.92 million, a PE ratio of 7.63 and a beta of 1.02.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) last released 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. Safe Bulkers had a return on equity of 9.05% and a net margin of 27.20%. The firm had revenue of $82.29 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.70 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.29 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Safe Bulkers, Inc. will post 0.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Safe Bulkers Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.23%. Safe Bulkers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.26%.

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.