Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK) Lowered to "Sell" Rating by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Star Bulk Carriers has been downgraded from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating by analysts at Wall Street Zen, signaling potential concerns about the company's future performance.
• The company reported a quarterly earnings loss of ($0.07) per share, which was better than analysts' expectations of ($0.28), although its revenue fell short at $159.28 million.
• Recent activity from institutional investors shows a significant increase in stake, with Capital Analysts LLC boosting their position by 215.9% during the fourth quarter.

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK - Free Report) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Saturday.

Star Bulk Carriers Stock Performance

Star Bulk Carriers stock traded down $0.06 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $19.25. 437,902 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,757,122. Star Bulk Carriers has a 12-month low of $12.06 and a 12-month high of $23.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.65. The stock has a market cap of $2.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.73 and a beta of 0.94. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $17.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.09.

Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The shipping company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.28) by $0.21. The company had revenue of $159.28 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $162.57 million. Star Bulk Carriers had a net margin of 18.62% and a return on equity of 8.20%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.87 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Star Bulk Carriers will post 1.74 EPS for the current year.

Star Bulk Carriers Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th were issued a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 6th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Star Bulk Carriers's payout ratio is presently 10.10%.

Institutional Trading of Star Bulk Carriers

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SBLK. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Star Bulk Carriers in the second quarter valued at about $57,227,000. Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Star Bulk Carriers by 59.1% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 1,868,249 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $26,548,000 after acquiring an additional 693,683 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Star Bulk Carriers in the first quarter valued at about $10,734,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in Star Bulk Carriers by 59.7% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,298,436 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $20,204,000 after buying an additional 485,436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Praetorian PR LLC purchased a new stake in Star Bulk Carriers during the fourth quarter worth about $6,267,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 33.91% of the company's stock.

About Star Bulk Carriers

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.