Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) Share Price Crosses Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average of $4.39

Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $4.39 and traded as high as $5.47. Safe Bulkers shares last traded at $5.40, with a volume of 713,606 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on SB. StockNews.com raised shares of Safe Bulkers from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Safe Bulkers from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $4.00 to $6.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th.

Safe Bulkers Stock Up 1.5 %

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4.42. The company has a current ratio of 2.55, a quick ratio of 2.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market cap of $576.50 million, a PE ratio of 7.94 and a beta of 0.99.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The shipping company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by ($0.01). Safe Bulkers had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 27.85%. The firm had revenue of $81.67 million during the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.10 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Safe Bulkers, Inc. will post 0.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Safe Bulkers Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Safe Bulkers’s payout ratio is currently 29.41%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SB. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Safe Bulkers by 135.2% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,898,533 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $9,408,000 after purchasing an additional 1,091,277 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Safe Bulkers by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 655,429 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $3,251,000 after purchasing an additional 38,162 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Safe Bulkers by 63.3% in the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 459,112 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,277,000 after purchasing an additional 177,940 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Safe Bulkers by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 458,109 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,272,000 after purchasing an additional 34,640 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd boosted its stake in Safe Bulkers by 66.9% in the 3rd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 216,900 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $703,000 after purchasing an additional 86,966 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.