Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Buys 43,070 Shares of Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) by 18.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 281,172 shares of the shipping company’s stock after purchasing an additional 43,070 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.25% of Safe Bulkers worth $1,105,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. WINTON GROUP Ltd increased its stake in shares of Safe Bulkers by 66.9% in the 3rd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 216,900 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $703,000 after purchasing an additional 86,966 shares during the last quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC bought a new position in Safe Bulkers in the fourth quarter valued at about $85,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Safe Bulkers during the fourth quarter worth about $85,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Safe Bulkers by 47.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 43,320 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $140,000 after acquiring an additional 14,001 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Regatta Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Safe Bulkers in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on SB. StockNews.com raised Safe Bulkers from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised Safe Bulkers from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $4.00 to $6.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th.

Safe Bulkers Price Performance

SB stock opened at $5.44 on Thursday. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $4.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4.23. Safe Bulkers, Inc. has a 12-month low of $2.97 and a 12-month high of $5.48. The firm has a market cap of $607.16 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.00 and a beta of 0.99.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The shipping company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.21 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $81.67 million for the quarter. Safe Bulkers had a net margin of 27.85% and a return on equity of 10.29%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.10 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Safe Bulkers, Inc. will post 0.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Safe Bulkers Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.68%. Safe Bulkers’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.