Foster Group Inc. Purchases Shares of 15,343 Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB)

Foster Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 15,343 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $57,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SB. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Safe Bulkers by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 546,562 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,951,000 after buying an additional 26,595 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Safe Bulkers by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 70,987 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $253,000 after buying an additional 6,534 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Safe Bulkers by 23.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 490,911 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,753,000 after buying an additional 93,777 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Safe Bulkers by 19.6% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 25,204 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $90,000 after acquiring an additional 4,122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Safe Bulkers during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $648,000. 21.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $5.00 price objective on shares of Safe Bulkers in a report on Tuesday, May 20th.

Safe Bulkers Trading Down 1.7%

NYSE:SB opened at $3.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $3.50 and a 200-day moving average of $3.63. The company has a market cap of $399.61 million, a PE ratio of 4.57 and a beta of 1.21. Safe Bulkers, Inc. has a one year low of $3.02 and a one year high of $6.22.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 19th. The shipping company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $64.35 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $57.92 million. Safe Bulkers had a return on equity of 10.04% and a net margin of 31.65%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Safe Bulkers, Inc. will post 0.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Safe Bulkers Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.27%. Safe Bulkers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.85%.

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.