D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Takes $648,000 Position in Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 181,472 shares of the shipping company's stock, valued at approximately $648,000. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned about 0.17% of Safe Bulkers as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SB. Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Safe Bulkers during the fourth quarter valued at $89,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Safe Bulkers by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 546,562 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $1,951,000 after purchasing an additional 26,595 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Safe Bulkers by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 70,987 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $253,000 after purchasing an additional 6,534 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Safe Bulkers by 19.6% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 25,204 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $90,000 after acquiring an additional 4,122 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Safe Bulkers by 15.5% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 213,359 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $762,000 after acquiring an additional 28,700 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 21.69% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $5.00 price target on shares of Safe Bulkers in a report on Tuesday, May 20th.

Safe Bulkers Stock Up 2.0%

SB stock traded up $0.08 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $3.79. The company had a trading volume of 368,254 shares, compared to its average volume of 596,765. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $3.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3.65. The company has a market capitalization of $398.56 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.57 and a beta of 1.17. Safe Bulkers, Inc. has a 52 week low of $3.02 and a 52 week high of $6.33.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 19th. The shipping company reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $64.35 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $57.92 million. Safe Bulkers had a return on equity of 10.04% and a net margin of 31.65%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Safe Bulkers, Inc. will post 0.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Safe Bulkers Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.28%. Safe Bulkers's payout ratio is presently 29.85%.

Safe Bulkers 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.