Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ:SBLK) to Issue $0.70 Quarterly Dividend

Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ:SBLK) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, August 7th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be given a dividend of 0.70 per share by the shipping company on Friday, September 6th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.38%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 27th.

Star Bulk Carriers has increased its dividend payment by an average of 215.5% annually over the last three years. Star Bulk Carriers has a dividend payout ratio of 66.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Star Bulk Carriers to earn $4.47 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 67.1%.

Star Bulk Carriers Price Performance

Star Bulk Carriers stock traded down $0.06 during trading on Friday, reaching $20.93. The company had a trading volume of 107,008 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,524,448. Star Bulk Carriers has a 1-year low of $16.86 and a 1-year high of $27.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.76 billion, a PE ratio of 9.45 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.43.

Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The shipping company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by ($0.01). Star Bulk Carriers had a net margin of 20.57% and a return on equity of 12.19%. The company had revenue of $352.88 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $329.38 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Star Bulk Carriers will post 3.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on SBLK shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Star Bulk Carriers from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Star Bulk Carriers from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Star Bulk Carriers in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd.

About Star Bulk Carriers

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.