ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) Short Interest Down 6.1% in June

ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totalling 3,560,000 shares, a drop of 6.1% from the June 15th total of 3,790,000 shares. Currently, 7.4% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 982,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.6 days.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ARR remained flat at $21.65 during midday trading on Wednesday. 1,537,432 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,086,457. The stock has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a P/E ratio of -30.06 and a beta of 1.51. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $19.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $19.23. ARMOUR Residential REIT has a 1-year low of $13.31 and a 1-year high of $26.90.

ARMOUR Residential REIT (NYSE:ARR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.22. ARMOUR Residential REIT had a negative net margin of 3.83% and a positive return on equity of 15.68%. The firm had revenue of $141.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.60 million. Equities analysts forecast that ARMOUR Residential REIT will post 3.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 30th. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.31%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 15th. ARMOUR Residential REIT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -400.00%.

Institutional Trading of ARMOUR Residential REIT

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 16.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,968,254 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $106,115,000 after acquiring an additional 3,550,122 shares during the last quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in ARMOUR Residential REIT during the fourth quarter worth about $6,913,000. LifePro Asset Management acquired a new position in ARMOUR Residential REIT during the second quarter worth about $2,035,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new position in ARMOUR Residential REIT during the first quarter worth about $1,549,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new position in ARMOUR Residential REIT during the first quarter worth about $525,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on ARR shares. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $20.00 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.50.

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.