Franklin Resources Inc. Increases Stock Position in Costamare Inc. $CMRE

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Costamare Inc. (NYSE:CMRE) by 41.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 173,117 shares of the shipping company’s stock after purchasing an additional 50,319 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Costamare were worth $1,577,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Unison Advisors LLC grew its position in Costamare by 1.3% during the second quarter. Unison Advisors LLC now owns 85,876 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $782,000 after acquiring an additional 1,099 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Costamare by 13.5% in the 1st quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 19,064 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $188,000 after purchasing an additional 2,267 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of Costamare by 21,575.0% during the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,468 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 3,452 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its position in Costamare by 89.4% during the 1st quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 7,393 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 3,489 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its position in Costamare by 21.3% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 47,914 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $436,000 after purchasing an additional 8,409 shares in the last quarter. 58.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CMRE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Costamare in a research report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Costamare from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Zacks Research cut shares of Costamare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Costamare from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.00.

Costamare Trading Up 1.1%

CMRE opened at $16.32 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $13.07 and its 200-day moving average is $11.20. Costamare Inc. has a 52-week low of $6.63 and a 52-week high of $16.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.53 and a beta of 1.27.

Costamare (NYSE:CMRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The shipping company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.11. Costamare had a net margin of 22.23% and a return on equity of 15.15%. The business had revenue of $225.17 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $197.92 million. Analysts expect that Costamare Inc. will post 2.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costamare Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 21st were given a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 21st. Costamare’s payout ratio is presently 18.40%.

Costamare Company Profile