ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) Short Interest Up 29.8% in March

ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in 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 daily trading volume, of 2,590,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.6 days. Approximately 6.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ARMOUR Residential REIT news, Director Robert C. Hain sold 2,500 shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 6,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $122,749.51. The trade was a 26.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of ARMOUR Residential REIT

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ARR. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 300.6% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 124,470 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,539,000 after acquiring an additional 93,397 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 70.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 70,970 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,448,000 after buying an additional 29,306 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,807,864 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,880,000 after acquiring an additional 27,575 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT during the fourth quarter worth about $419,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 36.7% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 449,871 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,485,000 after acquiring an additional 120,718 shares during the last quarter. 54.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

ARMOUR Residential REIT Price Performance

Shares of ARR traded down $0.07 on Tuesday, hitting $17.04. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,850,672 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,628,807. The company has a market capitalization of $1.36 billion, a PE ratio of -39.62 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $18.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.04. ARMOUR Residential REIT has a fifty-two week low of $16.71 and a fifty-two week high of $21.93.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 16.91%. ARMOUR Residential REIT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -669.77%.

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.