ARMOUR Residential REIT (NYSE:ARR) Shares Pass Above 200 Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR)’s stock price passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $17.28 and traded as high as $17.61. ARMOUR Residential REIT shares last traded at $17.5150, with a volume of 2,940,762 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ARR. Weiss Ratings cut ARMOUR Residential REIT from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $18.00 price target (up from $17.50) on shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. JonesTrading decreased their price objective on shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.50.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Stock Up 1.5%

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.12 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.28.

ARMOUR Residential REIT (NYSE:ARR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.03. ARMOUR Residential REIT had a return on equity of 15.39% and a net margin of 27.43%.The company had revenue of $70.71 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $155.79 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current year.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 28th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 16.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. ARMOUR Residential REIT’s dividend payout ratio is presently 150.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 50.3% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 122,055 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,088,000 after buying an additional 40,860 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 26.1% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 14,393 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $246,000 after acquiring an additional 2,980 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 38.2% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 807,027 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $13,800,000 after acquiring an additional 222,923 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its position in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 189.5% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 92,237 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,577,000 after acquiring an additional 60,371 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new stake in ARMOUR Residential REIT in the 1st quarter valued at $181,000. Institutional investors own 54.17% of the company’s stock.

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.