Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Purchases New Position in Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 95,019 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $492,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned about 0.09% of Safe Bulkers at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. nVerses Capital LLC grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 7,800 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Safe Bulkers during the third quarter worth approximately $86,000. Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Safe Bulkers in the 3rd quarter valued at $90,000. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Safe Bulkers by 27.0% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 18,400 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $95,000 after acquiring an additional 3,913 shares during the period. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its position in Safe Bulkers by 14.4% in the 2nd quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 16,863 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $98,000 after purchasing an additional 2,129 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $6.00 price objective on shares of Safe Bulkers in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com cut Safe Bulkers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday.

Safe Bulkers Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of Safe Bulkers stock opened at $3.51 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $374.79 million, a P/E ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 0.91. Safe Bulkers, Inc. has a one year low of $3.40 and a one year high of $6.33. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $4.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $4.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34.

Safe Bulkers Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.70%. Safe Bulkers’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.