State Street Corp Purchases 29,178 Shares of Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB)

State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,653,002 shares of the shipping company’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,178 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp’s holdings in Safe Bulkers were worth $8,563,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SB. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Safe Bulkers by 27.0% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 18,400 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $95,000 after purchasing an additional 3,913 shares during the last quarter. Walleye Capital LLC purchased a new position in Safe Bulkers in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,109,000. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Safe Bulkers during the 3rd quarter valued at about $86,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new stake in Safe Bulkers during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,480,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Safe Bulkers by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 519,967 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $2,693,000 after buying an additional 26,398 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 21.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Safe Bulkers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research 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 Stock Performance

Shares of Safe Bulkers stock opened at $3.57 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $4.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $4.79. The firm has a market cap of $381.20 million, a P/E ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 0.91. Safe Bulkers, Inc. has a 12 month low of $3.40 and a 12 month high of $6.33.

Safe Bulkers Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.60%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Safe Bulkers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.22%.

Safe Bulkers 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.