Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.07 EPS

Key Points

• Safe Bulkers reported quarterly earnings of $0.01 per share, missing analysts' expectations of $0.09 by a notable margin.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.05 per share, leading to an annual dividend yield of 4.76%.
• Goldman Sachs increased its stake in Safe Bulkers by 6%, contributing to a growing interest from institutional investors, which now hold 21.69% of the company's stock.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB - Get Free Report) released its earnings results on Tuesday. The shipping company reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.08 by ($0.07), Zacks reports. Safe Bulkers had a net margin of 27.32% and a return on equity of 7.93%. The firm had revenue of $65.75 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $60.40 million.

Safe Bulkers Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE:SB opened at $4.21 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $442.79 million, a PE ratio of 6.28 and a beta of 1.17. The business's 50 day moving average is $3.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $3.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Safe Bulkers has a 52 week low of $3.02 and a 52 week high of $5.43.

Safe Bulkers Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th were paid a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.76%. Safe Bulkers's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.85%.

Institutional Trading of Safe Bulkers

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Safe Bulkers by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 135,870 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $501,000 after purchasing an additional 4,836 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Safe Bulkers by 67.0% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 68,052 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $251,000 after buying an additional 27,292 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in Safe Bulkers by 5.4% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 576,229 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $2,126,000 after buying an additional 29,667 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Safe Bulkers by 6.0% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,630,636 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $6,017,000 after acquiring an additional 91,662 shares during the period. 21.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $5.00 price target 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.