ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) Stock Has Average Price Target of $18.50

ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the five analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $18.50.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ARR shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Zacks Research raised shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Price Performance

ARR opened at $13.58 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $15.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 1.42. ARMOUR Residential REIT has a one year low of $13.43 and a one year high of $19.31.

ARMOUR Residential REIT (NYSE:ARR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.72. The firm had revenue of $113.29 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.98 million. ARMOUR Residential REIT had a return on equity of 15.10% and a net margin of 44.90%. On average, analysts expect that ARMOUR Residential REIT will post 2.93 earnings per share for the current year.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 15th will be given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 15th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 21.2%. ARMOUR Residential REIT’s payout ratio is 77.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ARMOUR Residential REIT news, Chairman Daniel Staton sold 35,583 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.86, for a total transaction of $564,346.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $82,802,000 after buying an additional 619,020 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in ARMOUR Residential REIT in the second quarter worth approximately $13,757,000. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 234.6% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 664,247 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,080,000 after acquiring an additional 465,733 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 2.0% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 543,935 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,073,000 after acquiring an additional 10,592 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ascentis Wealth Management LLC grew its position in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 11.3% during the second quarter. Ascentis Wealth Management LLC now owns 395,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,893,000 after acquiring an additional 40,000 shares during the last quarter. 54.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Company Profile

ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc is a real estate investment trust that invests primarily in residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) issued or guaranteed by U.S. government agencies and government-sponsored enterprises, including Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Its portfolio may include fixed-rate and adjustable-rate mortgage securities, as well as other investments related to the U.S. residential mortgage market.

The company seeks to generate income from its investments and manages interest-rate and prepayment risks through portfolio composition, financing arrangements and hedging strategies.