Safe Bulkers Upgraded by Zacks Investment Research to “Buy”

Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Zacks.com reports. The brokerage currently has $2.25 price target on the shipping company’s stock.

According to Zacks, “SAFE BULKERS is an international provider of marine drybulk transportation services, transporting bulk cargoes, particularly grain, iron ore and coal, along worldwide shipping routes for some of the world’s largest consumers of marine drybulk transportation services. “

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. TheStreet raised Wayside Technology Group from a c rating to a b- rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. ValuEngine lowered Zosano Pharma from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. The company has an average rating of Buy and an average price target of $3.85.

The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,015 shares, compared to its average volume of 336,249. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $1.61. Safe Bulkers has a twelve month low of $1.28 and a twelve month high of $3.63. The company has a market cap of $206.56 million, a P/E ratio of 11.76 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.64.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 28th. The shipping company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $48.29 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.69 million. Safe Bulkers had a return on equity of 6.18% and a net margin of 13.56%. On average, analysts anticipate that Safe Bulkers will post 0.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Safe Bulkers by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 295,617 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $526,000 after acquiring an additional 35,228 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Safe Bulkers by 284.7% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 106,971 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $191,000 after acquiring an additional 79,168 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Safe Bulkers by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 248,319 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $441,000 after acquiring an additional 34,889 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Safe Bulkers by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 164,850 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $293,000 after acquiring an additional 23,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Safe Bulkers by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,667,754 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $4,749,000 after acquiring an additional 69,107 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 16.33% of the company’s stock.
Source: MarketBeat