Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) Reaches New 1-Year High After Dividend Announcement

Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday following a dividend announcement from the company. The company traded as high as $5.24 and last traded at $5.15, with a volume of 556488 shares. 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 issued a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.96%. Safe Bulkers’s payout ratio is 29.41%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Safe Bulkers Price Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $4.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.15. The company has a market capitalization of $563.63 million, a PE ratio of 7.33 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 2.33 and a current ratio of 2.63.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The shipping company reported $0.20 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.10 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate 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 bought and sold shares of the stock. Arkadios Wealth Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Safe Bulkers in the 1st quarter worth $272,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Safe Bulkers by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 58,689 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 4,353 shares in the last quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Safe Bulkers in the 1st quarter worth $106,000. Denali Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Safe Bulkers in the 1st quarter worth $498,000. Finally, Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC purchased a new position in Safe Bulkers in the 1st quarter worth $135,000. Institutional investors own 21.69% of the company’s stock.

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.