ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) Short Interest Update

ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,170,000 shares, a drop of 6.9% from the August 15th total of 4,480,000 shares. Currently, 8.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,070,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.9 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARR has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on ARMOUR Residential REIT in a report on Thursday, June 6th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, B. Riley raised their price objective on ARMOUR Residential REIT from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.83.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ARMOUR Residential REIT

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,549,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new stake in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT in the first quarter valued at $525,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 15.8% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 349,241 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,768,000 after purchasing an additional 47,735 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 74.0% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,469 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 1,050 shares during the period. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $843,000 after acquiring an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. 54.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Price Performance

Shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT stock opened at $20.69 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.61. The stock has a market cap of $1.01 billion, a P/E ratio of -28.74 and a beta of 1.50. ARMOUR Residential REIT has a 1-year low of $13.31 and a 1-year high of $24.85.

ARMOUR Residential REIT (NYSE:ARR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $129.93 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.47 million. ARMOUR Residential REIT had a positive return on equity of 16.64% and a negative net margin of 19.85%. As a group, research analysts expect that ARMOUR Residential REIT will post 3.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. ARMOUR Residential REIT’s dividend payout ratio is currently -400.00%.

About ARMOUR Residential REIT

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.