Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ:SBLK) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.70

Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ:SBLK) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, August 7th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be given a dividend of 0.70 per share by the shipping company on Friday, September 6th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 27th.

Star Bulk Carriers has raised its dividend by an average of 215.5% per year over the last three years. Star Bulk Carriers has a dividend payout ratio of 66.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Star Bulk Carriers to earn $4.47 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 67.1%.

Star Bulk Carriers Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ SBLK traded up $0.04 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $21.03. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 327,777 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,525,891. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.94. The stock has a market cap of $1.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.43 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.43. Star Bulk Carriers has a 12 month low of $16.86 and a 12 month high of $27.47.

Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The shipping company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.01). Star Bulk Carriers had a net margin of 20.57% and a return on equity of 12.19%. The business had revenue of $352.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $329.38 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Star Bulk Carriers will post 3.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Star Bulk Carriers in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Star Bulk Carriers from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Star Bulk Carriers from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th.

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.