Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) Short Interest Down 14.6% in September

Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,640,000 shares, a drop of 14.6% from the August 31st total of 1,920,000 shares. Currently, 2.8% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 547,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.0 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its stake in Safe Bulkers by 14.4% during the second quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 16,863 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $98,000 after purchasing an additional 2,129 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Safe Bulkers in the 2nd quarter worth about $104,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Safe Bulkers by 26.1% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 19,945 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $99,000 after buying an additional 4,129 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC lifted its position in Safe Bulkers by 27.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 25,567 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $149,000 after purchasing an additional 5,572 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC bought a new stake in Safe Bulkers in the 1st quarter valued at about $135,000. 21.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Safe Bulkers Stock Down 0.4 %

Safe Bulkers stock opened at $5.16 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $4.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.25. The company has a market capitalization of $550.90 million, a PE ratio of 7.59 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.11. Safe Bulkers has a fifty-two week low of $3.10 and a fifty-two week high of $6.33.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The shipping company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.18 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $78.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $69.16 million. Safe Bulkers had a return on equity of 10.78% and a net margin of 31.11%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.12 EPS. Research analysts expect that Safe Bulkers will post 0.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Safe Bulkers Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.88%. Safe Bulkers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.41%.

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.