Costamare (NYSE:CMRE) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Costamare (NYSE:CMRE) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Thursday morning.

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $13.00 price target on shares of Costamare in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th.

Costamare Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE CMRE opened at $10.23 on Thursday. Costamare has a 12-month low of $9.66 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. The stock has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a PE ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a 50-day moving average of $11.55 and a 200 day moving average of $13.06.

Costamare (NYSE:CMRE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The shipping company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.03. Costamare had a return on equity of 14.03% and a net margin of 15.14%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Costamare will post 2.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costamare Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 21st were given a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 21st. Costamare’s payout ratio is 18.85%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CMRE. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Costamare by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 24,596 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $316,000 after acquiring an additional 1,064 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Costamare by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 32,113 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $413,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141 shares during the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC raised its position in Costamare by 6.1% in the third quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 21,659 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $340,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238 shares during the period. Kendall Capital Management raised its position in Costamare by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Kendall Capital Management now owns 242,374 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,115,000 after purchasing an additional 1,370 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp lifted its stake in Costamare by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 59,433 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $764,000 after purchasing an additional 1,832 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.08% of the company’s stock.

About Costamare