Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. (NASDAQ:EGLE) Receives $56.75 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. (NASDAQ:EGLE) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $56.75.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on EGLE shares. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $55.00 target price (up from $54.00) on shares of Eagle Bulk Shipping in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Eagle Bulk Shipping in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Eagle Bulk Shipping in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “sell” rating for the company. BTIG Research restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Eagle Bulk Shipping in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Finally, Alliance Global Partners restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Eagle Bulk Shipping in a research report on Monday, February 26th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Castor Maritime Inc. bought 69,635 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 3rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $62.65 per share, with a total value of $4,362,632.75. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 1,461,135 shares in the company, valued at approximately $91,540,107.75. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of Eagle Bulk Shipping by 102.0% in the first quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 612 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the period. Worth Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Eagle Bulk Shipping in the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank purchased a new position in shares of Eagle Bulk Shipping in the second quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Advisory Services Network LLC boosted its stake in shares of Eagle Bulk Shipping by 681.0% in the first quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 1,476 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,287 shares during the period. Finally, Money Concepts Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Eagle Bulk Shipping in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $72,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.60% of the company’s stock.

Eagle Bulk Shipping Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EGLE opened at $62.60 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $692.98 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.92 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Eagle Bulk Shipping has a 52 week low of $39.15 and a 52 week high of $65.09.

Eagle Bulk Shipping (NASDAQ:EGLE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, March 4th. The shipping company reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $104.59 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $76.16 million. Eagle Bulk Shipping had a net margin of 5.77% and a return on equity of 4.62%. On average, equities analysts predict that Eagle Bulk Shipping will post 4.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eagle Bulk Shipping Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. This is a positive change from Eagle Bulk Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. Eagle Bulk Shipping’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 156.86%.

Eagle Bulk Shipping Company Profile

Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc engages in the ocean transportation of dry bulk cargoes worldwide. The company owns, charters, and operates dry bulk vessels that transport a range of bulk cargoes, including iron ore, coal, grains, fertilizers, steel products, petcoke, and cement. It serves miners, producers, traders, and end users.