Costamare Inc. (NYSE:CMRE) Short Interest Down 6.7% in August

Costamare Inc. (NYSE:CMRE) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,490,000 shares, a decline of 6.7% from the August 15th total of 2,670,000 shares. Approximately 5.8% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 576,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.3 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CMRE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Costamare from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Costamare from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Costamare from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st.

Institutional Trading of Costamare

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Costamare by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,069,284 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $73,591,000 after acquiring an additional 107,756 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Costamare by 20.6% during the 1st quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 1,583,997 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $17,978,000 after purchasing an additional 270,168 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Costamare by 1,322.0% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,469,697 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $24,119,000 after purchasing an additional 1,366,344 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Costamare by 62.9% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 621,764 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $10,216,000 after buying an additional 239,970 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in Costamare by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 504,570 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $5,727,000 after buying an additional 38,168 shares in the last quarter. 58.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Costamare Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CMRE opened at $13.91 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $14.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.62. Costamare has a 1-year low of $8.54 and a 1-year high of $17.58. The firm has a market cap of $1.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.42 and a beta of 1.37.

Costamare (NYSE:CMRE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The shipping company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.05. Costamare had a return on equity of 13.63% and a net margin of 19.63%. The company had revenue of $515.42 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $380.41 million. Analysts anticipate that Costamare will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Costamare Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 19th were given a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 19th. Costamare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.83%.

About Costamare