Safe Bulkers, Inc (NYSE:SB) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Safe Bulkers, Inc (NYSE:SB) saw a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 1,789,089 shares, a growth of 20.6% from the February 26th total of 1,484,027 shares. Currently, 2.9% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 873,969 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Institutional Trading of Safe Bulkers

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Safe Bulkers during the third quarter worth $522,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Safe Bulkers by 16.6% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,441,089 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $5,202,000 after purchasing an additional 204,874 shares during the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new stake in Safe Bulkers during the 3rd quarter worth about $365,000. Abel Hall LLC acquired a new stake in Safe Bulkers during the 4th quarter worth about $102,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp purchased a new position in shares of Safe Bulkers during the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. 21.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Safe Bulkers in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $6.00.

Safe Bulkers Stock Performance

SB stock traded up $0.24 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $6.34. The stock had a trading volume of 596,623 shares, compared to its average volume of 733,843. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $6.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5.22. Safe Bulkers has a 52-week low of $3.02 and a 52-week high of $6.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 2.63 and a current ratio of 2.90. The stock has a market cap of $647.81 million, a PE ratio of 21.12 and a beta of 1.04.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The shipping company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.14. Safe Bulkers had a return on equity of 4.91% and a net margin of 13.99%.The business had revenue of $72.57 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.00 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Safe Bulkers will post 0.62 EPS for the current year.

Safe Bulkers Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd were issued a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 2nd. Safe Bulkers’s dividend payout ratio is 66.67%.

Safe Bulkers Company Profile

Safe Bulkers Inc (NYSE: SB) is a dry bulk shipping company engaged in the ocean transport of commodities such as iron ore, coal, grain, and fertilizers. The company operates a modern fleet of vessels, including Panamax, Supramax and Kamsarmax bulk carriers, designed to serve a variety of trade routes and cargo types. Safe Bulkers’ fleet is employed under both time charter and voyage charter arrangements, offering flexibility to respond to market demand and optimize vessel utilization.

Founded in 2008, Safe Bulkers began trading its shares on the New York Stock Exchange in the same year, establishing itself as a publicly listed provider of dry bulk transportation services.