Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Position in ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) by 4.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 229,875 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 10,636 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.47% of ARMOUR Residential REIT worth $4,689,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ARR. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 67.8% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,374 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares during the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in ARMOUR Residential REIT during the 2nd quarter worth about $99,000. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 304.3% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 6,720 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $137,000 after purchasing an additional 5,058 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new position in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT in the second quarter valued at about $221,000. Finally, Creative Planning raised its stake in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 19.7% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 14,057 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $287,000 after purchasing an additional 2,311 shares during the last quarter. 54.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Robert C. Hain purchased 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $19.08 per share, with a total value of $47,700.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 9,023 shares in the company, valued at $172,158.84. This trade represents a 38.33 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Daniel C. Staton acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $19.86 per share, for a total transaction of $198,600.00. Following the purchase, the chairman now directly owns 24,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $477,434.40. The trade was a 71.23 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE ARR opened at $18.70 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.92 and a beta of 1.51. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.80. ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.79 and a 52-week high of $21.93.

ARMOUR Residential REIT (NYSE:ARR) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. ARMOUR Residential REIT had a return on equity of 16.76% and a net margin of 24.17%. The company had revenue of $127.06 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.95 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 15.40%. ARMOUR Residential REIT’s payout ratio is currently 122.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on ARR shares. B. Riley increased their price target on shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, ARMOUR Residential REIT has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.83.

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.