Chimera Investment Co. (NYSE:CIM) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Chimera Investment Co. (NYSE:CIM) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,970,000 shares, a growth of 7.1% from the October 15th total of 1,840,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 506,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.9 days. Currently, 2.5% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on CIM. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Chimera Investment from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Chimera Investment from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Chimera Investment

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cetera Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Chimera Investment in the 1st quarter valued at $63,000. Harbour Investments Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Chimera Investment during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $796,000. Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its position in Chimera Investment by 121.7% during the 2nd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 30,028 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $384,000 after buying an additional 16,482 shares during the period. Quarry LP grew its stake in Chimera Investment by 1,188.3% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,203 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 2,032 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in Chimera Investment during the second quarter worth about $217,000. Institutional investors own 48.44% of the company’s stock.

Chimera Investment Stock Performance

CIM traded down $0.05 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $14.71. 142,945 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 603,411. The company has a current ratio of 3.03, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.93. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $15.52 and a 200 day moving average of $14.56. The stock has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 1.73. Chimera Investment has a 52 week low of $11.28 and a 52 week high of $16.89.

Chimera Investment (NYSE:CIM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.01). Chimera Investment had a return on equity of 7.69% and a net margin of 46.48%. The company had revenue of $195.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $69.90 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.39 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Chimera Investment will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chimera Investment Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. This is a positive change from Chimera Investment’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Chimera Investment’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.85%.

About Chimera Investment

Chimera Investment Corporation operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT) in the United States. The company, through its subsidiaries, invests in a portfolio of mortgage assets, including residential mortgage loans, agency residential mortgage-backed securities, non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities, agency mortgage-backed securities secured by pools of commercial mortgage loans, business purpose and investor loans, and other real estate related securities.