Safe Bulkers, Inc. (SB) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 3rd

Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 18th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of 0.05 per share by the shipping company on Friday, March 21st. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd.

Safe Bulkers has a payout ratio of 22.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Safe Bulkers to earn $0.57 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 35.1%.

Safe Bulkers Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:SB opened at $3.69 on Thursday. Safe Bulkers has a 52-week low of $3.31 and a 52-week high of $6.33. The stock has a market cap of $393.48 million, a P/E ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s 50 day moving average is $3.55 and its 200 day moving average is $4.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The shipping company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.01. Safe Bulkers had a return on equity of 10.12% and a net margin of 31.65%. The company had revenue of $69.16 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $71.90 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Safe Bulkers will post 0.63 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SB. StockNews.com cut Safe Bulkers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $6.00 target price on shares of Safe Bulkers in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, DNB Markets raised 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.

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.