Sterling Capital Management LLC Buys 1,141 Shares of Costamare Inc. (NYSE:CMRE)

Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Costamare Inc. (NYSE:CMRE) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 32,113 shares of the shipping company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,141 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Costamare were worth $413,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CMRE. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Costamare by 2.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,213,838 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $19,082,000 after acquiring an additional 30,986 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Costamare by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,077,400 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $13,845,000 after purchasing an additional 170,412 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of Costamare by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 817,359 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $10,503,000 after buying an additional 78,377 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Costamare by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 602,062 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $7,736,000 after buying an additional 29,354 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its holdings in Costamare by 87.9% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 550,301 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $7,071,000 after buying an additional 257,422 shares during the period. 58.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on CMRE shares. StockNews.com lowered Costamare from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $13.00 price objective on shares of Costamare in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th.

Costamare Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CMRE opened at $8.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 1.65. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.05. Costamare Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $8.11 and a fifty-two week high of $17.58. The company has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.11.

Costamare (NYSE:CMRE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The shipping company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.03. Costamare had a return on equity of 14.03% and a net margin of 15.14%. Analysts expect that Costamare Inc. will post 2.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costamare Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 17th will be paid a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.15%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Costamare’s payout ratio is 18.85%.

Costamare Company Profile