Short Interest in Costamare Inc. (NYSE:CMRE) Decreases By 14.6%

Costamare Inc. (NYSE:CMRE - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,700,000 shares, a decrease of 14.6% from the December 31st total of 1,990,000 shares. Currently, 3.9% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 293,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.8 days.

Institutional Trading of Costamare

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMRE. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Costamare by 577.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 76,309 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $1,200,000 after buying an additional 65,040 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Costamare by 291.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 59,016 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $928,000 after acquiring an additional 43,925 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Costamare during the third quarter worth about $886,000. Foundry Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costamare during the third quarter worth about $4,032,000. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 30,986 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.08% of the company's stock.

Costamare Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of Costamare stock traded up $0.28 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $11.71. 375,210 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 343,200. The stock has a market cap of $1.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.31. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $12.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $13.60. 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 has a 12-month low of $10.14 and a 12-month high of $17.58.

Costamare (NYSE:CMRE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The shipping company reported $0.68 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $544.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $434.13 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Costamare will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costamare Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be paid a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.93%. Costamare's dividend payout ratio is currently 15.28%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on CMRE shares. StockNews.com lowered Costamare from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $13.00 price objective on shares of Costamare in a research note on Friday, November 1st.

About Costamare