Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 1,630 Shares of Costamare Inc. (NYSE:CMRE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Costamare Inc. (NYSE:CMRE) by 2.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 67,268 shares of the shipping company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,630 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.06% of Costamare worth $662,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in shares of Costamare by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 24,596 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $316,000 after acquiring an additional 1,064 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Costamare by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 32,113 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $413,000 after acquiring an additional 1,141 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Costamare by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 59,433 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $764,000 after acquiring an additional 1,832 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Costamare by 27.1% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,909 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $114,000 after acquiring an additional 1,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Costamare by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 59,580 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $766,000 after acquiring an additional 2,242 shares in the last quarter. 58.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Costamare Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CMRE opened at $9.60 on Friday. Costamare Inc. has a twelve month low of $6.63 and a twelve month high of $15.96. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $8.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.89. The company has a market capitalization of $1.15 billion, a PE ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Costamare (NYSE:CMRE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The shipping company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.09. Costamare had a net margin of 15.27% and a return on equity of 13.44%. The company had revenue of $440.54 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $330.14 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Costamare Inc. will post 2.52 EPS for the current year.

Costamare Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 21st will be given a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 21st. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.79%. Costamare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.85%.

About Costamare