Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.05

Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 18th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of 0.05 per share by the shipping company on Friday, March 21st. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd.

Safe Bulkers has a payout ratio of 22.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Safe Bulkers to earn $0.57 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 35.1%.

Safe Bulkers Stock Down 0.1 %

Safe Bulkers stock opened at $3.69 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $3.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $4.22. The company has a market cap of $393.48 million, a PE ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 0.90. Safe Bulkers has a fifty-two week low of $3.31 and a fifty-two week high of $6.33.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The shipping company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.01. Safe Bulkers had a return on equity of 10.12% and a net margin of 31.65%. The firm had revenue of $69.16 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $71.90 million. Equities analysts anticipate that Safe Bulkers will post 0.63 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SB. DNB Markets raised Safe Bulkers from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4.20 price target for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $6.00 price target on shares of Safe Bulkers in a report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com cut Safe Bulkers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th.

Safe Bulkers Company Profile

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.