Costamare Inc. (NYSE:CMRE) Short Interest Up 21.2% in May

Costamare Inc. (NYSE:CMRE - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 806,500 shares, an increase of 21.2% from the April 30th total of 665,200 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 550,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.5 days. Currently, 1.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Costamare

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Costamare in the 1st quarter valued at $99,482,000. Millennium Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Costamare during the first quarter valued at about $6,075,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Costamare by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,077,400 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $13,845,000 after buying an additional 170,412 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Costamare by 42.2% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 479,822 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $4,721,000 after purchasing an additional 142,372 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Essential Planning LLC. acquired a new stake in Costamare during the fourth quarter worth $1,718,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.08% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Wall Street Zen started coverage on shares of Costamare in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a "hold" rating for the company.

Costamare Stock Up 2.1%

Costamare stock traded up $0.19 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $9.09. 281,886 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 462,196. Costamare has a 1-year low of $6.63 and a 1-year high of $17.58. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $8.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 1.13.

Costamare (NYSE:CMRE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The shipping company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $440.54 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $330.14 million. Costamare had a return on equity of 14.03% and a net margin of 15.14%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Costamare will post 2.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costamare Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 17th were paid a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.06%. Costamare's payout ratio is 18.85%.

Costamare Company Profile