Investors Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB)

Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 3,562 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 247% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,026 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Institutional Trading of Safe Bulkers

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 9,826 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Safe Bulkers by 30.0% in the 4th quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 13,000 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Safe Bulkers by 47.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 43,320 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $140,000 after purchasing an additional 14,001 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in Safe Bulkers during the 3rd quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Safe Bulkers during the third quarter worth $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.69% of the company’s stock.

Safe Bulkers Price Performance

SB stock opened at $4.73 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.33, a current ratio of 2.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market cap of $527.92 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.63 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $4.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4.03. Safe Bulkers has a 12-month low of $2.97 and a 12-month high of $5.15.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The shipping company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.10. Safe Bulkers had a return on equity of 9.05% and a net margin of 27.20%. The company had revenue of $82.29 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.70 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.29 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Safe Bulkers will post 0.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Safe Bulkers Dividend Announcement

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

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.