IVS Bulk joint venture interest acquisition closed. As expected the pending acquisition of the remaining 31.14% equity stake in the IVS Bulk joint venture and redemption of IVS Bulk preferred stock closed on September 1st. Existing cash was utilized to complete the acquisition since the upsizing of the existing IVS Bulk credit line is still in the finalization stage.Charter-in update. The options to extend the firm charter-in period by 11—13 months on the IVS Pinehurst, a 2015-built Supra, was exercised. The added charter-in term at a fixed rate starts in early January 2022. The fixed price purchase option remains in place, which creates optionality. Assuming a charter-in rate of ~$13.0k/day and a TCE rate of $30.0k/day, the charter-in should generate cash flow in the $5.6—$6.6 million range over the term extension.Updating 4Q2021 cash dividend estimate. Variable dividend policy starting and our total 4Q2021 dividend estimate is $0.61/share, including cash of $0.54/share. Recent buybacks part of variable dividend policy, or $0.07/share. As highlighted in recent notes, the variable dividend will consist of a combo of buybacks and cash. As of August 30th, 91,871 shares were bought back at an average $14.87/share. As a result, our 4Q2021 dividend estimate of $12.06 million consists of buybacks of $1.37 million and cash of $10.69 million, or a cash dividend of $0.54/share.Maintain Outperform rating and price target of $27/share. A high quality asset base, consistently above average TCE rate performance and simplified corporate structure are positives, in addition to the firmer dry bulk market. Even though the stock has rebounded from weakness in July and was up another 20% last week to move the year to date gain to 340%, we believe that the current valuation and risk reward profile remain attractive, especially with the new variable dividend policy and the latest acquisitions of the last joint venture interest and the 2019-built IVS Phoenix Ultra. Read More >>