Jefferies Financial Group Reiterates "Buy" Rating for Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB)

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $6.00 price objective on the shipping company's stock. Jefferies Financial Group's target price indicates a potential upside of 60.21% from the company's current price.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. DNB Markets raised Safe Bulkers from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $4.20 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com cut Safe Bulkers from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th.

Safe Bulkers Stock Performance

SB stock traded down $0.07 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $3.75. The stock had a trading volume of 799,753 shares, compared to its average volume of 664,325. The firm has a market capitalization of $399.89 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $3.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.21. Safe Bulkers has a 52 week low of $3.31 and a 52 week high of $6.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The shipping company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $69.16 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $71.90 million. Safe Bulkers had a return on equity of 10.12% and a net margin of 31.65%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Safe Bulkers will post 0.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Safe Bulkers

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Graham Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Safe Bulkers in the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Safe Bulkers in the third quarter valued at $86,000. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Safe Bulkers by 49.0% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 17,008 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 5,596 shares in the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Safe Bulkers in the third quarter valued at $90,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Safe Bulkers in the fourth quarter valued at $64,000. 21.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.