Short Interest in Costamare Inc. (NYSE:CMRE) Expands By 6.1%

Costamare Inc. (NYSE:CMRE) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,440,000 shares, a growth of 6.1% from the October 31st total of 2,300,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 330,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.4 days. Currently, 5.7% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Costamare

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CMRE. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Costamare by 12.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 319,385 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $3,625,000 after buying an additional 35,903 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Costamare by 19.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,681 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $156,000 after purchasing an additional 2,223 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Costamare in the first quarter worth approximately $132,000. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in Costamare by 18.8% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 55,699 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $632,000 after purchasing an additional 8,806 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC raised its stake in Costamare by 53.6% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,302 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 1,502 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.08% of the company’s stock.

Costamare Stock Down 1.2 %

CMRE stock traded down $0.16 on Wednesday, reaching $13.04. 62,631 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 478,050. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $14.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.59. The company has a market cap of $1.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.39 and a beta of 1.34. Costamare has a one year low of $9.16 and a one year high of $17.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.56.

Costamare (NYSE:CMRE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The shipping company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $544.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $434.13 million. Costamare had a return on equity of 14.28% and a net margin of 19.11%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.46 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Costamare will post 2.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Costamare Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 21st were paid a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 21st. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.53%. Costamare’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.28%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CMRE shares. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $13.00 price target on shares of Costamare in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Costamare from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd.

About Costamare