Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (SBLK) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 4th

Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ:SBLK) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 18th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be given a dividend of 0.09 per share by the shipping company on Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 4th.

Star Bulk Carriers has raised its dividend by an average of 3.6% annually over the last three years. Star Bulk Carriers has a payout ratio of 10.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Star Bulk Carriers to earn $2.64 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 13.6%.

Star Bulk Carriers Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Star Bulk Carriers stock opened at $15.63 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.50. The company has a market capitalization of $1.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.45 and a beta of 0.95. Star Bulk Carriers has a 1 year low of $14.30 and a 1 year high of $27.47.

Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The shipping company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $308.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $230.91 million. Star Bulk Carriers had a return on equity of 12.48% and a net margin of 24.08%. Research analysts forecast that Star Bulk Carriers will post 1.74 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Star Bulk Carriers from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com downgraded Star Bulk Carriers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, DNB Markets raised Star Bulk Carriers from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $19.30 to $20.20 in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Star Bulk Carriers presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.05.

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.