ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) Short Interest Down 20.3% in February

ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 5,100,000 shares, a decrease of 20.3% from the February 13th total of 6,400,000 shares. Currently, 5.1% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 2,340,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Stewart J. Paperin sold 24,852 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.78, for a total value of $466,720.56. Following the sale, the director now owns 363 shares in the company, valued at $6,817.14. This represents a 98.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert C. Hain sold 2,500 shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.07, for a total value of $45,175.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $122,749.51. The trade was a 26.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.35% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in ARMOUR Residential REIT during the 4th quarter valued at $19,865,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,046,157 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $114,031,000 after acquiring an additional 895,433 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in 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 during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 486.7% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 814,009 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $15,352,000 after acquiring an additional 675,259 shares during the period. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 323,298 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 54.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

ARMOUR Residential REIT Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ARR opened at $18.81 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -43.75 and a beta of 1.53. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.24. ARMOUR Residential REIT has a fifty-two week low of $17.35 and a fifty-two week high of $21.93.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 15.31%. ARMOUR Residential REIT’s payout ratio is -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.