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

ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,620,000 shares, a growth of 29.8% from the February 28th total of 5,100,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,590,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.6 days. Approximately 6.6% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Robert C. Hain sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.07, for a total transaction of $45,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $122,749.51. This represents a 26.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.35% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of ARMOUR Residential REIT

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT in the fourth quarter valued at $19,865,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,046,157 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $114,031,000 after buying an additional 895,433 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 86.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,628,903 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,721,000 after acquiring an additional 754,582 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 486.7% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 814,009 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $15,352,000 after acquiring an additional 675,259 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 1,204.2% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 350,145 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,604,000 after acquiring an additional 323,298 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ARR. B. Riley raised ARMOUR Residential REIT to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. BTIG Research began coverage on shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT in a research report on Monday, February 10th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.50.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE ARR traded down $0.28 on Wednesday, hitting $16.75. The company had a trading volume of 3,247,018 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,635,233. ARMOUR Residential REIT has a 12-month low of $16.56 and a 12-month high of $21.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.34 billion, a P/E ratio of -38.95 and a beta of 1.53. The business has a 50 day moving average of $18.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.04.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 17.19%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. ARMOUR Residential REIT’s dividend payout ratio is presently -669.77%.

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.