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

Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB - Get Free Report) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,640,000 shares, a decrease of 14.6% from the August 31st total of 1,920,000 shares. Currently, 2.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 547,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.0 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Safe Bulkers

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SB. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its position in shares of Safe Bulkers by 14.4% in the 2nd quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 16,863 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $98,000 after acquiring an additional 2,129 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Safe Bulkers by 26.1% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 19,945 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 4,129 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Safe Bulkers in the second quarter worth $104,000. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC purchased a new position in shares of Safe Bulkers during the first quarter valued at $135,000. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Safe Bulkers by 27.9% during the second quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 25,567 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $149,000 after buying an additional 5,572 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.69% of the company's stock.

Safe Bulkers Price Performance

Shares of SB traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $5.16. The company's stock had a trading volume of 464,575 shares, compared to its average volume of 475,826. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 2.11. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $4.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.25. Safe Bulkers has a fifty-two week low of $3.10 and a fifty-two week high of $6.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $550.93 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.59 and a beta of 0.91.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The shipping company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.18 by ($0.01). Safe Bulkers had a return on equity of 10.78% and a net margin of 31.11%. The business had revenue of $78.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $69.16 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.12 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Safe Bulkers will post 0.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Safe Bulkers Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were given a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. Safe Bulkers's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.41%.

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.