Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ:SBLK) Announces $0.60 Quarterly Dividend

Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ:SBLK) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 20th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of 0.60 per share by the shipping company on Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th.

Star Bulk Carriers has increased its dividend by an average of 215.5% annually over the last three years. Star Bulk Carriers has a dividend payout ratio of 73.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Star Bulk Carriers to earn $3.20 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 87.5%.

Star Bulk Carriers Price Performance

SBLK traded down $1.06 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $18.97. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,665,351 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,593,766. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $20.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.36 and a beta of 1.00. Star Bulk Carriers has a 12 month low of $18.92 and a 12 month high of $27.47.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on SBLK shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Star Bulk Carriers in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $26.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Star Bulk Carriers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of Star Bulk Carriers in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com cut shares of Star Bulk Carriers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, DNB Markets lowered Star Bulk Carriers from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.00.

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.