Michels Family Financial LLC Invests $385,000 in Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ:SBLK)

Michels Family Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ:SBLK - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 25,785 shares of the shipping company's stock, valued at approximately $385,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Star Bulk Carriers by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,240,650 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $18,548,000 after acquiring an additional 147,659 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its stake in Star Bulk Carriers by 48.9% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,174,566 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $17,454,000 after buying an additional 385,980 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Star Bulk Carriers by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 813,000 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $12,154,000 after buying an additional 89,600 shares during the last quarter. Grand Alliance Asset Management Ltd increased its stake in Star Bulk Carriers by 37.0% in the 4th quarter. Grand Alliance Asset Management Ltd now owns 740,000 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $11,063,000 after buying an additional 200,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Star Bulk Carriers by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 561,713 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $8,398,000 after buying an additional 104,439 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Star Bulk Carriers from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $22.05.

Star Bulk Carriers Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of SBLK traded up $0.28 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $16.29. 491,218 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,861,027. Star Bulk Carriers Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $12.06 and a fifty-two week high of $27.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.50. The business has a 50-day moving average of $14.97 and a 200-day moving average of $15.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.89.

Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The shipping company reported ($0.07) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.28) by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $159.28 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $162.57 million. Star Bulk Carriers had a net margin of 24.08% and a return on equity of 12.48%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.87 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Star Bulk Carriers Corp. will post 1.74 EPS for the current year.

Star Bulk Carriers Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. Star Bulk Carriers's payout ratio is 10.10%.

Star Bulk Carriers Company Profile

Star Bulk Carriers Corp., a shipping company, engages in the ocean transportation of dry bulk cargoes worldwide. Its vessels transport a range of bulk commodities, including iron ores, minerals and grains, bauxite, fertilizers, and steel products. As of December 31, 2023, the company owned a fleet of 116 dry bulk vessels with combined carrying capacity of 13.1 million deadweight tonnage (dwt) consisting of Newcastlemax, Capesize, Post Panamax, Kamsarmax, Panamax, Ultramax, and Supramax vessels with carrying capacities between 53,489 dwt and 209,537 dwt.