Short Interest in Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) Declines By 21.3%

Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB - Get Free Report) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,070,000 shares, a drop of 21.3% from the February 13th total of 1,360,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 699,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.5 days. Currently, 1.9% of the company's stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Safe Bulkers

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Safe Bulkers by 83.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 125,238 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $648,000 after buying an additional 56,946 shares during the last quarter. Walleye Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Safe Bulkers in the third quarter valued at $1,109,000. Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Safe Bulkers during the fourth quarter valued at $89,000. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Safe Bulkers by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 546,562 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $1,951,000 after acquiring an additional 26,595 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Safe Bulkers by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 70,987 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $253,000 after purchasing an additional 6,534 shares during the period. 21.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. DNB Markets raised Safe Bulkers from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $4.20 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Loop Capital set a $4.20 target price on Safe Bulkers in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $6.00 price target on shares of Safe Bulkers in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Safe Bulkers from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th.

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Safe Bulkers Stock Performance

Safe Bulkers stock traded down $0.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $3.76. 399,209 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 604,648. Safe Bulkers has a 12-month low of $3.31 and a 12-month high of $6.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $395.40 million, a PE ratio of 4.52 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. The business's 50-day moving average is $3.64 and its 200-day moving average is $4.05.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The shipping company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.01. Safe Bulkers had a return on equity of 10.04% and a net margin of 31.65%. The company had revenue of $69.16 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $71.90 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Safe Bulkers will post 0.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Safe Bulkers Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.33%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Safe Bulkers's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.10%.

About Safe Bulkers

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.