Franklin Resources Inc. Buys New Shares in ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR)

Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new stake in ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 48,727 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $919,000. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 0.09% of ARMOUR Residential REIT as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT in the fourth quarter valued at $19,865,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,046,157 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $114,031,000 after acquiring an additional 895,433 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,619,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT by 36.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 449,871 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $8,485,000 after purchasing an additional 120,718 shares during the period. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new position in ARMOUR Residential REIT in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,848,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.17% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. B. Riley upgraded shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com cut ARMOUR Residential REIT from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, BTIG Research began coverage on shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT in a research report on Monday, February 10th. They set a "neutral" rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $20.50.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ARR traded up $0.32 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $14.29. 2,387,488 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,774,884. The company's fifty day moving average is $17.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.45. ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $13.18 and a fifty-two week high of $21.93. The stock has a market cap of $1.14 billion, a PE ratio of -33.22 and a beta of 1.23.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 29th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 20.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. ARMOUR Residential REIT's payout ratio is -669.77%.

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.