Costamare Inc. (NYSE:CMRE) Short Interest Update

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CMRE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Costamare from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $13.00 target price on shares of Costamare in a research report on Friday, November 1st.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in Costamare by 2.6% in the 3rd 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. boosted its holdings in shares of Costamare by 62.9% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Costamare by 5.3% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 572,708 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $9,003,000 after acquiring an additional 29,078 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Costamare by 3.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 433,995 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $6,822,000 after purchasing an additional 15,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Costamare by 985.5% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 357,557 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $5,875,000 after purchasing 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 opened at $12.29 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.93. The firm has a market cap of $1.45 billion, a PE ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.33. Costamare has a 12-month low of $10.14 and a 12-month high of $17.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Costamare (NYSE:CMRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The shipping company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.04. Costamare had a net margin of 19.11% and a return on equity of 14.28%. The company had revenue of $544.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $434.13 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Costamare will post 2.79 EPS for the current year.

Costamare Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be given a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.74%. Costamare’s payout ratio is 15.28%.

Costamare Company Profile