ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) Shares Sold by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System cut its stake in shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) by 80.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 39,829 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 159,324 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in ARMOUR Residential REIT were worth $769,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 14.0% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 33,119,543 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $176,527,000 after acquiring an additional 4,066,538 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 16.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,968,254 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $106,115,000 after acquiring an additional 3,550,122 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 93.5% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,011,244 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $29,798,000 after acquiring an additional 3,387,825 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 12.6% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,311,740 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $33,642,000 after acquiring an additional 703,850 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 23.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,799,952 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $20,254,000 after acquiring an additional 731,697 shares during the period. 54.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ARR shares. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com downgraded ARMOUR Residential REIT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Stock Up 1.2 %

NYSE:ARR opened at $17.72 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $863.85 million, a PE ratio of -9.28 and a beta of 1.48. ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. has a 52-week low of $13.31 and a 52-week high of $27.00. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.48.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 16.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. ARMOUR Residential REIT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -150.78%.

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.