Safe Bulkers’ (SB) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group reiterated their buy rating on shares of Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $5.00 target price on the shipping company’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on SB. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Safe Bulkers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Loop Capital set a $4.20 target price on shares of Safe Bulkers in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, DNB Markets raised shares of Safe Bulkers from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4.20 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th.

Safe Bulkers Price Performance

Shares of SB stock opened at $3.63 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $3.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $3.67. Safe Bulkers has a 52-week low of $3.02 and a 52-week high of $6.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $382.24 million, a P/E ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 1.17.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 19th. The shipping company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by $0.02. Safe Bulkers had a return on equity of 10.04% and a net margin of 31.65%. The business had revenue of $64.35 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $57.92 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Safe Bulkers will post 0.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Safe Bulkers Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. Safe Bulkers’s payout ratio is 29.85%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Safe Bulkers

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its stake in Safe Bulkers by 3.7% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 135,870 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $501,000 after acquiring an additional 4,836 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of Safe Bulkers by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 576,229 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $2,126,000 after purchasing an additional 29,667 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Safe Bulkers by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,630,636 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $6,017,000 after purchasing an additional 91,662 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Safe Bulkers by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 1,118,329 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $4,127,000 after purchasing an additional 29,667 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Safe Bulkers by 67.0% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 68,052 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $251,000 after purchasing an additional 27,292 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.