181,472 Shares in Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) Bought by D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 181,472 shares of the shipping company's stock, valued at approximately $648,000. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned 0.17% of Safe Bulkers as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Safe Bulkers by 16.7% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,796,424 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $6,413,000 after acquiring an additional 257,136 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in Safe Bulkers in the 4th quarter valued at $888,000. Mariner LLC increased its stake in Safe Bulkers by 148.6% in the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 391,015 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $1,396,000 after acquiring an additional 233,743 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Safe Bulkers by 23.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 490,911 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $1,753,000 after purchasing an additional 93,777 shares during the period. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC raised its stake in Safe Bulkers by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 691,769 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $2,470,000 after acquiring an additional 75,200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 21.69% of the company's stock.

Safe Bulkers Trading Up 0.0%

NYSE:SB traded up $0.00 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $3.76. The company had a trading volume of 294,036 shares, compared to its average volume of 595,918. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.91. Safe Bulkers, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $3.02 and a fifty-two week high of $6.33. The firm has a market cap of $396.03 million, a P/E ratio of 4.53 and a beta of 1.17. The business's fifty day moving average is $3.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $3.64.

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

Safe Bulkers Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.32%. Safe Bulkers's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $5.00 target price on shares of Safe Bulkers in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th.

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.