Northern Trust Corp Increases Stock Holdings in Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB)

Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB - Free Report) by 23.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 490,911 shares of the shipping company's stock after purchasing an additional 93,777 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned about 0.46% of Safe Bulkers worth $1,753,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Two Sigma Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Safe Bulkers in the fourth quarter valued at $84,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Safe Bulkers by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 24,293 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 4,680 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Safe Bulkers during the fourth quarter valued at $888,000. Mariner LLC boosted its stake in shares of Safe Bulkers by 148.6% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Safe Bulkers by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 137,217 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $490,000 after acquiring an additional 11,979 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.69% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Safe Bulkers Price Performance

Shares of SB traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $3.81. 322,249 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 596,336. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $401.19 million, a PE ratio of 4.59 and a beta of 1.17. Safe Bulkers, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $3.02 and a fifty-two week high of $6.33. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $3.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3.64.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB - Get Free Report) last released 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. Safe Bulkers had a return on equity of 10.04% and a net margin of 31.65%. The firm had revenue of $64.35 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $57.92 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Safe Bulkers, Inc. will post 0.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Safe Bulkers Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.25%. Safe Bulkers's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.85%.

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.