Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK) Raised to "Hold" at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Star Bulk Carriers has been upgraded from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating by Wall Street Zen, reflecting a more cautious outlook from analysts.
• Jefferies Financial Group maintains a "buy" rating with a price objective of $22.00, while the stock has a consensus target of $22.30.
• Star Bulk Carriers reported a quarterly earnings per share of ($0.07), beating estimates, but its revenue for the quarter came in below analyst expectations.

Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report released on Sunday.

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of Star Bulk Carriers in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $22.30.

Star Bulk Carriers Price Performance

NASDAQ SBLK traded down $0.06 during trading on Friday, reaching $18.93. The company's stock had a trading volume of 249,368 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,730,219. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.23 billion, a PE ratio of 18.01 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.42. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $17.90 and a 200 day moving average of $16.25. Star Bulk Carriers has a one year low of $12.06 and a one year high of $23.82.

Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK - Get Free Report) last posted 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 company had revenue of $159.28 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $162.57 million. Star Bulk Carriers had a return on equity of 4.97% and a net margin of 10.98%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.87 EPS. Analysts expect that Star Bulk Carriers will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Star Bulk Carriers

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in Star Bulk Carriers in the second quarter worth approximately $57,227,000. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Star Bulk Carriers by 59.1% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 1,868,249 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $26,548,000 after purchasing an additional 693,683 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Star Bulk Carriers in the 1st quarter worth about $10,734,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Star Bulk Carriers by 59.7% in the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 485,436 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Praetorian PR LLC bought a new stake in Star Bulk Carriers during the 4th quarter worth about $6,267,000. 33.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.