Safe Bulkers, Inc. (SB) Upgraded by Morgan Stanley to Overweight

TIN news:  Safe Bulkers logoSafe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) was upgraded by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note. The firm currently has a $3.00 target price on the shipping company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $1.30. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 34.53% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Safe Bulkers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 5th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Safe Bulkers from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 24th. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on shares of Safe Bulkers in a research report on Friday, January 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $1.50 price target on the stock. Finally, DNB Markets raised Safe Bulkers from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. The company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $1.65.

Shares of Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) traded down 3.46% during trading on Tuesday, reaching $2.23. 753,888 shares of the company traded hands. Safe Bulkers has a 12 month low of $0.86 and a 12 month high of $2.60. The firm’s market capitalization is $221.08 million. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $1.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $1.52.

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 23rd. The shipping company reported ($0.09) EPS for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of ($0.10) by $0.01. Safe Bulkers had a negative net margin of 75.21% and a negative return on equity of 6.57%. The company had revenue of $32.94 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.20 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.13) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Safe Bulkers will post ($0.31) EPS for the current year.

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Phoenix Investment Adviser LLC boosted its stake in shares of Safe Bulkers by 43.0% in the third quarter. Phoenix Investment Adviser LLC now owns 340,120 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $480,000 after buying an additional 102,232 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Safe Bulkers during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,412,000. Evermore Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Safe Bulkers during the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,618,000. Warlander Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Safe Bulkers during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,415,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Safe Bulkers by 107.0% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 291,700 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $335,000 after buying an additional 150,800 shares during the period. 12.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.