Insider Selling: ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) Director Sells 24,852 Shares of Stock

ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) Director Stewart J. Paperin sold 24,852 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.78, for a total value of $466,720.56. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,817.14. The trade was a 98.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ARR opened at $19.27 on Monday. ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.35 and a 52 week high of $21.93. The company’s 50 day moving average is $18.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.73. The company has a market cap of $1.07 billion, a PE ratio of 8.17 and a beta of 1.47.

ARMOUR Residential REIT (NYSE:ARR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $127.06 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.95 million. ARMOUR Residential REIT had a return on equity of 16.76% and a net margin of 24.17%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. will post 3.91 EPS for the current year.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 14.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. ARMOUR Residential REIT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 122.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com raised ARMOUR Residential REIT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ARMOUR Residential REIT

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 70.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 70,970 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,448,000 after buying an additional 29,306 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC acquired a new position in ARMOUR Residential REIT in the third quarter valued at $61,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,148,151 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $23,427,000 after purchasing an additional 9,519 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 300.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 124,470 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,539,000 after purchasing an additional 93,397 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 1.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,807,864 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,880,000 after purchasing an additional 27,575 shares in the last quarter. 54.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Company 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.