ARMOUR Residential REIT (NYSE:ARR) Sets New 52-Week Low – Here’s Why

ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) reached a new 52-week low on Thursday. The stock traded as low as $13.55 and last traded at $13.5920, with a volume of 669144 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.83.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded ARMOUR Residential REIT from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Zacks Research raised ARMOUR Residential REIT from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.50.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 1.36. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $15.89 and its 200-day moving average is $16.62.

ARMOUR Residential REIT (NYSE:ARR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.72. ARMOUR Residential REIT had a net margin of 44.90% and a return on equity of 15.10%. The business had revenue of $113.29 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.98 million. As a group, analysts expect that ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. will post 2.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 15th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 21.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 15th. ARMOUR Residential REIT’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at ARMOUR Residential REIT

In other ARMOUR Residential REIT news, Chairman Daniel Staton sold 35,583 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.86, for a total value of $564,346.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of ARMOUR Residential REIT

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT in the second quarter valued at approximately $6,536,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 15.0% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,745,078 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $82,802,000 after buying an additional 619,020 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 18.0% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 59,141 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,032,000 after buying an additional 9,038 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new stake in ARMOUR Residential REIT during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $100,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 34,376.5% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 5,861 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $102,000 after acquiring an additional 5,844 shares during the last quarter. 54.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About ARMOUR Residential REIT

ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc is a real estate investment trust that invests primarily in residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). Its portfolio is focused mainly on securities issued or guaranteed by government-sponsored enterprises and U.S. government agencies, including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae.

The company seeks to generate income from its investment portfolio and finances its activities through arrangements such as repurchase agreements. ARMOUR also uses interest-rate hedging strategies and other financial instruments to manage exposure to changing interest rates, financing costs and market conditions.

ARMOUR Residential REIT was organized in 2007 and is externally managed by ARMOUR Capital Management LP.