ARMOUR Residential REIT Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:ARR)

ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Friday. Investors purchased 30,710 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 1,706% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,700 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $16.00 price target on shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $16.00.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Stock Performance

ARR opened at $16.70 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 417.53 and a beta of 1.44. ARMOUR Residential REIT has a twelve month low of $13.18 and a twelve month high of $19.64. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $15.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.04.

ARMOUR Residential REIT (NYSE:ARR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $210.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.25 million. ARMOUR Residential REIT had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 15.37%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that ARMOUR Residential REIT will post 3.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 17.2%. ARMOUR Residential REIT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7,200.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ARR. Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 29.3% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 13,347 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $199,000 after purchasing an additional 3,025 shares during the period. SummitTX Capital L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,553,000. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 84.2% during the third quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 110,878 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,657,000 after acquiring an additional 50,669 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its stake in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 100.9% in the 3rd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 32,451 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $485,000 after purchasing an additional 16,302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 365.7% during the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,495,203 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $37,278,000 after acquiring an additional 1,959,447 shares during the last quarter. 54.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.