Costamare Inc. (NYSE:CMRE) Short Interest Down 14.6% in December

Costamare Inc. (NYSE:CMRE) was the target of a large drop in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,700,000 shares, a drop of 14.6% from the December 15th total of 1,990,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 293,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.8 days. Approximately 3.9% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on CMRE shares. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $13.00 price target on shares of Costamare in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com cut shares of Costamare from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd.

Institutional Trading of Costamare

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CMRE. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Costamare by 2.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,213,838 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $19,082,000 after buying an additional 30,986 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Costamare by 62.9% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 621,764 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $10,216,000 after acquiring an additional 239,970 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Costamare by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 572,708 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $9,003,000 after acquiring an additional 29,078 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Costamare by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 433,995 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $6,822,000 after acquiring an additional 15,983 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Costamare by 985.5% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 357,557 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $5,875,000 after acquiring an additional 324,618 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.08% of the company’s stock.

Costamare Stock Performance

Shares of CMRE traded down $0.06 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $12.29. 282,459 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 315,567. Costamare has a twelve month low of $10.14 and a twelve month 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. The company has a market capitalization of $1.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.33. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $13.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $13.98.

Costamare (NYSE:CMRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The shipping company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.04. Costamare had a return on equity of 14.28% and a net margin of 19.11%. The company had revenue of $544.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $434.13 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.46 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Costamare will post 2.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costamare Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be given a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.74%. Costamare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.28%.

Costamare Company Profile