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

Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ:SBLK) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 18th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be paid 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 2.41%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 4th.

Star Bulk Carriers has increased its dividend by an average of 3.6% annually over the last three years. Star Bulk Carriers has a dividend payout ratio of 73.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Star Bulk Carriers to earn $2.77 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 86.6%.

Star Bulk Carriers Price Performance

SBLK opened at $14.96 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The company has a market capitalization of $1.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 0.95. Star Bulk Carriers has a 12-month low of $14.30 and a 12-month high of $27.47. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.52.

Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The shipping company reported $0.34 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $230.91 million. Star Bulk Carriers had a return on equity of 12.85% and a net margin of 24.08%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Star Bulk Carriers will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on SBLK shares. StockNews.com lowered Star Bulk Carriers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Star Bulk Carriers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $21.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. DNB Markets raised Star Bulk Carriers from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $19.30 to $20.20 in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Star Bulk Carriers from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Star Bulk Carriers presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.