Stifel Nicolaus Lowers Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK) to Hold

Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $21.00 target price on the shipping company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $30.00.

SBLK has been the subject of several other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Star Bulk Carriers in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $26.00 price objective for the company. DNB Markets downgraded shares of Star Bulk Carriers from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.67.

Star Bulk Carriers Price Performance

Shares of SBLK opened at $19.35 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $21.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.20. Star Bulk Carriers has a twelve month low of $17.91 and a twelve month high of $27.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.63 billion, a PE ratio of 7.11 and a beta of 0.98.

Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The shipping company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by ($0.01). Star Bulk Carriers had a return on equity of 13.58% and a net margin of 24.05%. The business had revenue of $352.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $329.38 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.47 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Star Bulk Carriers will post 3.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Star Bulk Carriers Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 14.47%. Star Bulk Carriers’s payout ratio is 102.94%.

Institutional Trading of Star Bulk Carriers

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SBLK. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Star Bulk Carriers during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Star Bulk Carriers during the first quarter worth $36,000. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Star Bulk Carriers by 100.0% in the first quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,000 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Star Bulk Carriers by 190.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,025 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 1,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Star Bulk Carriers during the second quarter valued at $54,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 33.91% of the company’s stock.

About Star Bulk Carriers

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.