ARMOUR Residential REIT (NYSE:ARR) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Here’s Why

ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low on Monday. The company traded as low as $12.85 and last traded at $12.6670, with a volume of 752,831 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $13.20.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings cut 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 research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, ARMOUR Residential REIT currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.50.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Stock Up 3.2%

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 1.42.

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

ARMOUR Residential REIT Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 22.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 15th. ARMOUR Residential REIT’s dividend payout ratio is 77.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at ARMOUR Residential REIT

In other news, Chairman Daniel Staton sold 35,583 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.86, for a total transaction of $564,346.38. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ARMOUR Residential REIT

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp raised its holdings 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. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT in the second quarter worth about $13,757,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 465,733 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 2.0% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 543,935 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $9,073,000 after acquiring an additional 10,592 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ascentis Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 11.3% in the second quarter. Ascentis Wealth Management LLC now owns 395,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,893,000 after acquiring an additional 40,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.17% of the company’s stock.

About ARMOUR Residential REIT

ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc is a real estate investment trust that invests primarily in residential mortgage-backed securities. Its portfolio generally consists of securities issued or guaranteed by U.S. government-sponsored enterprises, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, or by U.S. government agencies such as Ginnie Mae.

The company invests in a range of agency mortgage securities, including fixed-rate and adjustable-rate mortgage pass-through securities, collateralized mortgage obligations, specified pools and to-be-announced securities.