ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,430,000 shares, an increase of 8.8% from the September 30th total of 4,070,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,210,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.7 days. Approximately 9.1% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Daniel C. Staton purchased 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $19.86 per share, for a total transaction of $198,600.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chairman now owns 24,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $477,434.40. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ARMOUR Residential REIT

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 67.8% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,374 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares during the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its holdings in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 1.3% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 42,654 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $843,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares during the period. Parisi Gray Wealth Management lifted its holdings in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 6.0% in the second quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 16,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its holdings in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 5.4% in the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 28,941 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $590,000 after purchasing an additional 1,490 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 6.6% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 27,496 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $544,000 after purchasing an additional 1,707 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 54.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ARR. StockNews.com upgraded shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, B. Riley boosted their target price on shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.83.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Stock Down 1.4 %

ARR stock traded down $0.27 during trading on Thursday, hitting $18.74. 1,895,385 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,151,218. ARMOUR Residential REIT has a 52 week low of $13.71 and a 52 week high of $21.93. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $20.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.94 and a beta of 1.50.

ARMOUR Residential REIT (NYSE:ARR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $127.06 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.95 million. ARMOUR Residential REIT had a negative net margin of 19.85% and a positive return on equity of 16.64%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that ARMOUR Residential REIT will post 3.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 15.37%. ARMOUR Residential REIT’s dividend payout ratio is currently 122.03%.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Company Profile

ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc invests in residential mortgage-backed securities (MBS) in the United States. Its securities portfolio primarily consists of the United States Government-sponsored entity's (GSE) and the Government National Mortgage Administration's issued or guaranteed securities backed by fixed rate, hybrid adjustable rate, and adjustable-rate home loans; and unsecured notes and bonds issued by the GSE and the United States treasuries, as well as money market instruments.