Short Interest in Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) Rises By 26.9%

Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,360,000 shares, a growth of 26.9% from the May 31st total of 1,860,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 622,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.8 days. Approximately 3.9% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SB. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Safe Bulkers by 135.2% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,898,533 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $9,408,000 after buying an additional 1,091,277 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Safe Bulkers by 63.3% in the first quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 459,112 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $2,277,000 after purchasing an additional 177,940 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Safe Bulkers by 3,273.7% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 165,345 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $821,000 after purchasing an additional 160,444 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Safe Bulkers in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $401,000. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Safe Bulkers in the first quarter valued at approximately $498,000. 21.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Safe Bulkers from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st.

Safe Bulkers Stock Performance

NYSE SB traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $5.82. 703,146 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 645,137. Safe Bulkers has a 12-month low of $2.97 and a 12-month high of $6.33. The company has a quick ratio of 2.55, a current ratio of 2.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The company has a market cap of $621.34 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.56 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $5.56 and a 200 day moving average of $4.81.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The shipping company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by ($0.01). Safe Bulkers had a net margin of 27.85% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The company had revenue of $81.67 million during the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.10 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Safe Bulkers will post 0.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Safe Bulkers Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.44%. Safe Bulkers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.