Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ:SBLK) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.09

Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ:SBLK) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 18th,RTT News reports. Shareholders 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 yield of 2.20%.

Star Bulk Carriers has raised its dividend payment by an average of 3.6% annually over the last three years. Star Bulk Carriers has a dividend payout ratio of 74.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Star Bulk Carriers to earn $1.93 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $2.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 124.4%.

Star Bulk Carriers Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of SBLK stock traded up $0.29 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $16.39. 3,313,583 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,765,247. The stock has a market cap of $1.38 billion, a PE ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.95. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $15.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. Star Bulk Carriers has a 12 month low of $14.30 and a 12 month high of $27.47.

Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The shipping company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.08). Star Bulk Carriers had a return on equity of 14.82% and a net margin of 24.75%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Star Bulk Carriers will post 2.63 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on SBLK. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Star Bulk Carriers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Star Bulk Carriers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of Star Bulk Carriers in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, DNB Markets raised shares of 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 research note on Thursday, November 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.80.

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.