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

Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ:SBLK) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, August 7th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be paid 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 13.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 27th.

Star Bulk Carriers has increased its dividend by an average of 215.5% annually over the last three years. Star Bulk Carriers has a 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 Stock Performance

Shares of SBLK traded down $0.06 on Friday, reaching $20.93. 107,008 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,524,448. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market cap of $1.76 billion, a PE ratio of 9.45 and a beta of 0.96. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.94. Star Bulk Carriers has a 52-week low of $16.86 and a 52-week high of $27.47.

Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The shipping company reported $0.78 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $352.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $329.38 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.47 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Star Bulk Carriers will post 3.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Star Bulk Carriers in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Star Bulk Carriers from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock 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 research 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.