Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) Hits New 52-Week High After Dividend Announcement

Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday after the company announced a dividend. The stock traded as high as $5.24 and last traded at $5.15, with a volume of 556488 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $5.06.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.99%. Safe Bulkers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.41%.

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 stock from $4.00 to $6.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th.

Safe Bulkers Stock Up 0.4 %

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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $4.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.15. The stock has a market cap of $559.17 million, a P/E ratio of 7.33 and a beta of 1.02.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The shipping company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.21 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $81.67 million for the quarter. Safe Bulkers had a return on equity of 10.33% and a net margin of 27.85%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.10 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Safe Bulkers, Inc. will post 0.85 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Safe Bulkers

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sigma Planning Corp bought a new stake in shares of Safe Bulkers in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Safe Bulkers during the third quarter worth $41,000. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Safe Bulkers during the third quarter worth $43,000. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. bought a new stake in Safe Bulkers in the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, Welch Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Safe Bulkers by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 13,000 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.69% of the company’s stock.

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.