Van ECK Associates Corp Lowers Stock Holdings in ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. $ARR

Van ECK Associates Corp lessened its stake in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,013,368 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 34,780 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in ARMOUR Residential REIT were worth $17,683,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ARR. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 86,494 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,531,000 after buying an additional 579 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 40.7% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,369 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 685 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 2.9% in the second quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 29,016 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $501,000 after acquiring an additional 814 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR boosted its holdings in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 19,310 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $342,000 after acquiring an additional 915 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 21,946 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $388,000 after acquiring an additional 988 shares during the period. 54.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on ARR shares. Weiss Ratings cut shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Zacks Research upgraded ARMOUR Residential REIT from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Two research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.50.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Price Performance

Shares of ARR opened at $16.32 on Monday. ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. has a 52-week low of $13.98 and a 52-week high of $19.31. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.05. The company has a market capitalization of $2.31 billion, a PE ratio of 4.39 and a beta of 1.37.

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

ARMOUR Residential REIT Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 17.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. ARMOUR Residential REIT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.42%.

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.