Ballentine Partners LLC Reduces Stock Position in Safe Bulkers, Inc $SB

Ballentine Partners LLC lowered its stake in Safe Bulkers, Inc (NYSE:SB) by 40.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,384 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 12,734 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Safe Bulkers were worth $66,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Safe Bulkers during the 1st quarter worth $49,000. Foster Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Safe Bulkers during the 1st quarter worth $57,000. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Safe Bulkers by 49.0% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 17,008 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 5,596 shares during the last quarter. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Safe Bulkers by 23.6% during the 1st quarter. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. now owns 16,500 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 3,155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC boosted its stake in shares of Safe Bulkers by 13.6% during the 1st quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 28,862 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $107,000 after acquiring an additional 3,459 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 21.69% of the company’s stock.

Safe Bulkers Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of Safe Bulkers stock opened at $4.45 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $4.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $454.81 million, a PE ratio of 10.34 and a beta of 1.30. Safe Bulkers, Inc has a 1-year low of $3.02 and a 1-year high of $5.21. 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 (NYSE:SB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The shipping company reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.08 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $65.75 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.40 million. Safe Bulkers had a net margin of 19.25% and a return on equity of 5.80%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Safe Bulkers, Inc will post 0.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Safe Bulkers Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st were given a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 21st. Safe Bulkers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.51%.

Safe Bulkers 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.