Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (SBLK) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 4th

Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ:SBLK) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 18th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be given a dividend of 0.09 per share by the shipping company on Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 4th.

Star Bulk Carriers has raised its dividend by an average of 3.6% annually over the last three years. Star Bulk Carriers has a payout ratio of 73.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Star Bulk Carriers to earn $2.77 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 86.6%.

Star Bulk Carriers Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SBLK opened at $14.96 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.26 billion, a PE ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 0.95. Star Bulk Carriers has a fifty-two week low of $14.30 and a fifty-two week high of $27.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 1.69. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $15.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.52.

Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The shipping company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $308.92 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $230.91 million. Star Bulk Carriers had a net margin of 24.08% and a return on equity of 12.85%. Equities research analysts predict that Star Bulk Carriers will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on SBLK shares. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Star Bulk Carriers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $30.00 to $21.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. DNB Markets upgraded Star Bulk Carriers from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $19.30 to $20.20 in a report on Thursday, November 21st. StockNews.com cut Star Bulk Carriers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Star Bulk Carriers from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Star Bulk Carriers currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.05.

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.