Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. Acquires Shares of 75,095 Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ:SBLK)

Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ:SBLK) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 75,095 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,779,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in SBLK. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Star Bulk Carriers in the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Artemis Investment Management LLP raised its holdings in shares of Star Bulk Carriers by 112.7% in the first quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 792,802 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $18,915,000 after buying an additional 420,100 shares during the last quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Star Bulk Carriers by 14.8% in the first quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 24,388 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $564,000 after buying an additional 3,150 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Star Bulk Carriers during the 1st quarter worth about $7,814,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Star Bulk Carriers by 84.6% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 10,761 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $257,000 after acquiring an additional 4,933 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 33.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SBLK. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Star Bulk Carriers in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $26.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut Star Bulk Carriers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $30.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, DNB Markets lowered Star Bulk Carriers from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Star Bulk Carriers presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.67.

Star Bulk Carriers Price Performance

Shares of SBLK stock opened at $19.24 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $21.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.51. Star Bulk Carriers Corp. has a 52-week low of $17.91 and a 52-week high of $27.47. The stock has a market cap of $1.62 billion, a PE ratio of 7.07 and a beta of 0.98.

Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK) last posted its quarterly 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). The company had revenue of $352.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $329.38 million. Star Bulk Carriers had a return on equity of 13.58% and a net margin of 24.05%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Star Bulk Carriers Corp. will post 3.47 EPS for the current year.

Star Bulk Carriers Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 14.55%. Star Bulk Carriers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 102.94%.

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.