State Street Corp Boosts Holdings in Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB)

State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,653,002 shares of the shipping company’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,178 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned approximately 1.55% of Safe Bulkers worth $8,563,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise increased its holdings in shares of Safe Bulkers by 14.4% in the second quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 16,863 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $98,000 after purchasing an additional 2,129 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its holdings in Safe Bulkers by 27.0% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 18,400 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $95,000 after buying an additional 3,913 shares in the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Safe Bulkers by 27.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 25,567 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $149,000 after buying an additional 5,572 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Safe Bulkers by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 64,745 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $377,000 after acquiring an additional 6,056 shares during the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Safe Bulkers by 269.0% during the 3rd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 10,700 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 7,800 shares in the last quarter. 21.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Safe Bulkers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $6.00 price objective on shares of Safe Bulkers in a research note on Thursday, November 14th.

Safe Bulkers Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE SB opened at $3.57 on Friday. Safe Bulkers, Inc. has a 1-year low of $3.40 and a 1-year high of $6.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The business’s 50 day moving average is $4.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $381.20 million, a P/E ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 0.91.

Safe Bulkers Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.60%. Safe Bulkers’s payout ratio is presently 22.22%.

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.