Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK) Stock Rating Lowered by Stifel Nicolaus

Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK) was downgraded by equities researchers at Stifel Nicolaus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, FinViz reports. They currently have a $21.00 price target on the shipping company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $30.00. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective points to a potential upside of 5.47% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on SBLK. DNB Markets downgraded shares of Star Bulk Carriers from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Star Bulk Carriers in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $26.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Star Bulk Carriers presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.67.

Star Bulk Carriers Stock Down 1.0 %

SBLK opened at $19.91 on Wednesday. Star Bulk Carriers has a twelve month low of $17.91 and a twelve month high of $27.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $21.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.28. The company has a market cap of $1.67 billion, a PE ratio of 7.32 and a beta of 0.98.

Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The shipping company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $352.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $329.38 million. Star Bulk Carriers had a net margin of 24.05% and a return on equity of 13.58%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.47 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Star Bulk Carriers will post 3.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Star Bulk Carriers

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SBLK. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Star Bulk Carriers during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $23,212,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Star Bulk Carriers by 335.4% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,221,255 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $29,774,000 after purchasing an additional 940,745 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of Star Bulk Carriers by 101.8% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,791,426 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $43,675,000 after purchasing an additional 903,542 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Star Bulk Carriers during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $11,719,000. Finally, Encompass Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Star Bulk Carriers by 27.5% during the 2nd quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,052,262 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $50,034,000 after purchasing an additional 442,860 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.91% of the company’s stock.

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.