Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) Issues Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.01 EPS

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday. The shipping company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.21 by ($0.01), Yahoo Finance reports. Safe Bulkers had a return on equity of 9.05% and a net margin of 27.20%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.10 earnings per share.

Safe Bulkers Trading Up 1.7 %

SB stock opened at $5.15 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $574.23 million, a PE ratio of 8.30 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 2.63 and a quick ratio of 2.33. Safe Bulkers has a 12 month low of $2.97 and a 12 month high of $5.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $4.83 and its 200 day moving average is $4.14.

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 $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. Safe Bulkers’s payout ratio is presently 32.26%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.