ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) Shares Sold by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp cut its stake in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) by 72.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 406,372 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,048,655 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp owned approximately 0.83% of ARMOUR Residential REIT worth $7,851,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 12.6% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,803 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 760 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT during the third quarter worth about $43,000. Profund Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 11.2% during the third quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 12,866 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 1,294 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. grew its position in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 14.9% during the third quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 13,306 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 1,727 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT during the third quarter worth about $60,000. 54.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Stock Up 1.0 %

ARR stock opened at $19.02 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $18.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.44. The stock has a market cap of $927.23 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.42 and a beta of 1.48. ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $13.31 and a fifty-two week high of $27.00.

ARMOUR Residential REIT (NYSE:ARR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.22. ARMOUR Residential REIT had a positive return on equity of 15.68% and a negative net margin of 3.83%. The company had revenue of $141.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.60 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. will post 3.46 EPS for the current year.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 15.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. ARMOUR Residential REIT’s dividend payout ratio is currently -399.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on ARR shares. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. StockNews.com cut ARMOUR Residential REIT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th.

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.