ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the six analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $18.1667.

ARR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen cut ARMOUR Residential REIT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. Compass Point initiated coverage on ARMOUR Residential REIT in a report on Monday, December 15th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $18.50 price target for the company. Zacks Research downgraded ARMOUR Residential REIT from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. JonesTrading dropped their target price on ARMOUR Residential REIT from $20.50 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised ARMOUR Residential REIT from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th.

Insider Buying and Selling at ARMOUR Residential REIT

In other news, Director Robert C. Hain sold 6,833 shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.06, for a total transaction of $123,403.98. Following the sale, the director owned 1,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,240.60. The trade was a 87.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of ARMOUR Residential REIT

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 35.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,995,105 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $179,207,000 after buying an additional 3,147,068 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 365.7% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,495,203 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $37,278,000 after acquiring an additional 1,959,447 shares in the last quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC grew its position in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 570.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC now owns 848,724 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,680,000 after acquiring an additional 722,160 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its stake in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 115.9% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,109,852 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $16,581,000 after purchasing an additional 595,773 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 27.7% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,968,349 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,092,000 after purchasing an additional 426,536 shares during the period. 54.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Stock Performance

NYSE ARR opened at $15.47 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $17.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.90. The company has a market cap of $1.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 1.44. ARMOUR Residential REIT has a one year low of $13.18 and a one year high of $19.31.

ARMOUR Residential REIT (NYSE:ARR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $236.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $62.34 million. ARMOUR Residential REIT had a return on equity of 15.30% and a net margin of 40.31%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that ARMOUR Residential REIT will post 3.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 18.6%. ARMOUR Residential REIT’s payout ratio is 105.49%.

About ARMOUR Residential REIT

ARMOUR Residential REIT (NYSE:ARR) is a mortgage real estate investment trust that was formed in 2008 to acquire and manage a portfolio of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). The company’s investments are primarily agency-sponsored and agency-guaranteed RMBS issued by U.S. government-sponsored enterprises, along with credit risk transfer securities and select non-agency residential and multifamily RMBS. By focusing on high-quality mortgage assets, ARMOUR Residential REIT seeks to generate stable income and preserve capital through diversified exposure to the U.S.