Costamare Inc. $CMRE Shares Purchased by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Costamare Inc. (NYSE:CMRE) by 41.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 173,117 shares of the shipping company’s stock after purchasing an additional 50,319 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.14% of Costamare worth $1,577,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CMRE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Costamare by 81.5% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,030,194 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $9,385,000 after buying an additional 462,582 shares in the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. acquired a new position in Costamare during the second quarter worth about $84,000. Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Costamare in the second quarter valued at about $544,000. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its holdings in shares of Costamare by 21.3% in the second quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 47,914 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $436,000 after purchasing an additional 8,409 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bailard Inc. grew its position in shares of Costamare by 45.0% in the second quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 44,747 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $408,000 after purchasing an additional 13,884 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.08% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CMRE has been the subject of several research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Costamare in a research report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded Costamare from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Costamare from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Costamare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.00.

Costamare Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of Costamare stock opened at $16.32 on Friday. Costamare Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $6.63 and a fifty-two week high of $16.40. The business’s fifty day moving average is $13.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.20. 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 cap of $1.96 billion, a PE ratio of 6.53 and a beta of 1.27.

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

Costamare Dividend Announcement

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

Costamare Profile