Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Cuts Stock Position in Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ:SBLK)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC reduced its position in Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ:SBLK) by 23.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 91,773 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 28,719 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC owned 0.11% of Star Bulk Carriers worth $1,372,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Star Bulk Carriers by 229.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 404,196 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $9,575,000 after acquiring an additional 281,552 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Star Bulk Carriers by 359.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 457,274 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $10,833,000 after buying an additional 357,720 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in Star Bulk Carriers by 7,313.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 455,254 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $10,784,000 after buying an additional 449,113 shares in the last quarter. Autumn Glory Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Star Bulk Carriers in the third quarter valued at about $649,000. Finally, Benson Investment Management Company Inc. acquired a new stake in Star Bulk Carriers in the third quarter worth about $5,259,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 33.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SBLK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of Star Bulk Carriers in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Star Bulk Carriers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $21.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Star Bulk Carriers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, DNB Markets upgraded Star Bulk Carriers from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $19.30 to $20.20 in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Star Bulk Carriers has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.80.

Star Bulk Carriers Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of SBLK stock opened at $15.17 on Tuesday. Star Bulk Carriers Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $14.30 and a fifty-two week high of $27.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 1.69. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $15.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.13 and a beta of 0.95.

Star Bulk Carriers Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 15.82%. Star Bulk Carriers’s payout ratio is presently 81.08%.

Star Bulk Carriers Profile

Star Bulk Carriers Corp., a shipping company, engages in the ocean transportation of dry bulk cargoes worldwide. Its vessels transport a range of bulk commodities, including iron ores, minerals and grains, bauxite, fertilizers, and steel products. As of December 31, 2023, the company owned a fleet of 116 dry bulk vessels with combined carrying capacity of 13.1 million deadweight tonnage (dwt) consisting of Newcastlemax, Capesize, Post Panamax, Kamsarmax, Panamax, Ultramax, and Supramax vessels with carrying capacities between 53,489 dwt and 209,537 dwt.