Costamare Inc. (NYSE:CMRE) Short Interest Update

Costamare Inc. (NYSE:CMRE) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,380,000 shares, a drop of 7.8% from the September 30th total of 2,580,000 shares. Currently, 5.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 387,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.1 days.

Costamare Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of CMRE stock traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $13.77. 229,283 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 497,266. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $14.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.54. Costamare has a 52-week low of $8.61 and a 52-week high of $17.58. The stock has a market cap of $1.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.87 and a beta of 1.37.

Costamare (NYSE:CMRE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The shipping company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.05. Costamare had a net margin of 19.63% and a return on equity of 13.63%. The company had revenue of $515.42 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $380.41 million. Equities analysts predict that Costamare will post 2.81 EPS for the current year.

Costamare Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Investors of record on Monday, October 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 21st. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. Costamare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CMRE. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Costamare from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $13.00 price objective on shares of Costamare in a research report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com cut Costamare from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Costamare

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Costamare during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,172,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Costamare by 56,543.3% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 143,874 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,633,000 after purchasing an additional 143,620 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Costamare during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,999,000. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in Costamare by 25,731.0% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 401,414 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $6,595,000 after purchasing an additional 399,860 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Costamare by 24.4% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 101,791 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,155,000 after purchasing an additional 19,998 shares in the last quarter. 58.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Costamare