Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 895,433 Shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) by 17.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,046,157 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 895,433 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.11% of ARMOUR Residential REIT worth $114,031,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ARR. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 140.3% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 73,352 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,383,000 after buying an additional 42,823 shares during the period. Simplify Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. now owns 27,500 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $519,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in ARMOUR Residential REIT during the 4th quarter worth approximately $170,000. Kiker Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in ARMOUR Residential REIT during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,448,000. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its position in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 11,904 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 1,481 shares during the period. 54.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert C. Hain sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.07, for a total value of $45,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $122,749.51. This trade represents a 26.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.35% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Stock Performance

ARR opened at $14.34 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -33.34 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a fifty day moving average of $18.24 and a 200 day moving average of $18.82. ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $13.92 and a fifty-two week high of $21.93.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 29th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 20.09%. ARMOUR Residential REIT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -669.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on ARR. BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT in a research report on Monday, February 10th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. StockNews.com cut ARMOUR Residential REIT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, B. Riley raised ARMOUR Residential REIT to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, ARMOUR Residential REIT has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.50.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Profile

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.