Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Safe Bulkers, Inc (NYSE:SB)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $6.71 and last traded at $6.7050, with a volume of 147430 shares. The stock had previously closed at $6.53.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Safe Bulkers in a report on Monday, December 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $6.00.

Safe Bulkers Price Performance

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $6.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.39. The company has a current ratio of 2.90, a quick ratio of 2.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market cap of $679.52 million, a P/E ratio of 22.15 and a beta of 1.08.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) last issued its earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The shipping company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14. Safe Bulkers had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 4.91%. The business had revenue of $72.57 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.00 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Safe Bulkers, Inc will post 0.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Safe Bulkers Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were issued a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Safe Bulkers’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.67%.

Institutional Trading of Safe Bulkers

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fearnley Asset Management AS bought a new stake in shares of Safe Bulkers during the 4th quarter worth $5,112,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Safe Bulkers by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,651,114 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $12,778,000 after acquiring an additional 617,711 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC bought a new position in Safe Bulkers in the fourth quarter valued at $1,571,000. Boothbay Fund Management LLC bought a new position in Safe Bulkers in the third quarter valued at $629,000. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its stake in Safe Bulkers by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 806,379 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,887,000 after acquiring an additional 118,681 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 21.69% of the company’s stock.

About Safe Bulkers

Safe Bulkers Inc (NYSE: SB) is a dry bulk shipping company engaged in the ocean transport of commodities such as iron ore, coal, grain, and fertilizers. The company operates a modern fleet of vessels, including Panamax, Supramax and Kamsarmax bulk carriers, designed to serve a variety of trade routes and cargo types. Safe Bulkers’ fleet is employed under both time charter and voyage charter arrangements, offering flexibility to respond to market demand and optimize vessel utilization.

Founded in 2008, Safe Bulkers began trading its shares on the New York Stock Exchange in the same year, establishing itself as a publicly listed provider of dry bulk transportation services.