Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) Short Interest Update

Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) saw a significant decrease in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,070,000 shares, a decrease of 21.3% from the February 13th total of 1,360,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 699,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.5 days. Approximately 1.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on SB. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $6.00 price objective on shares of Safe Bulkers in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. DNB Markets upgraded Safe Bulkers from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4.20 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com cut Safe Bulkers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Loop Capital set a $4.20 price objective on Safe Bulkers in a research note on Monday, January 27th.

Institutional Trading of Safe Bulkers

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new position in Safe Bulkers in the 4th quarter worth about $1,000,000. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Safe Bulkers by 49.0% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 17,008 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 5,596 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Safe Bulkers by 128.7% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 288,541 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,030,000 after acquiring an additional 162,351 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Safe Bulkers by 38.5% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 317,576 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,133,000 after acquiring an additional 88,230 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Graham Capital Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Safe Bulkers in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 21.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Safe Bulkers Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of SB traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $3.77. The stock had a trading volume of 694,863 shares, compared to its average volume of 607,312. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $3.63 and its 200 day moving average is $4.06. The firm has a market cap of $396.45 million, a PE ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Safe Bulkers has a 1 year low of $3.31 and a 1 year high of $6.33.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The shipping company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.01. Safe Bulkers had a net margin of 31.65% and a return on equity of 10.04%. The company had revenue of $69.16 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $71.90 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Safe Bulkers will post 0.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Safe Bulkers Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Safe Bulkers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.10%.

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.