ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the five research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $18.50.

ARR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research cut shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. JonesTrading lowered their price target on shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $18.00 price target (up from $17.50) on shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT in a report on Friday, April 24th.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Stock Performance

NYSE ARR opened at $17.30 on Tuesday. ARMOUR Residential REIT has a twelve month low of $13.98 and a twelve month high of $19.31. The stock has a market cap of $2.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.01 and a beta of 1.36. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $17.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.42.

ARMOUR Residential REIT (NYSE:ARR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.03. ARMOUR Residential REIT had a net margin of 27.43% and a return on equity of 15.39%. The firm had revenue of $70.71 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $155.79 million. On average, research analysts forecast that ARMOUR Residential REIT will post 2.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 16.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 15th. ARMOUR Residential REIT’s payout ratio is currently 150.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ARMOUR Residential REIT

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ARR. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 35.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 3,147,068 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 365.7% in the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,495,203 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $37,278,000 after purchasing an additional 1,959,447 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 115.9% in 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 in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 234.6% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 664,247 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,080,000 after purchasing an additional 465,733 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 341.4% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 471,298 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,337,000 after purchasing an additional 364,515 shares in the last quarter. 54.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.