Essential Planning LLC. Purchases Shares of 124,005 Costamare Inc. (NYSE:CMRE)

Essential Planning LLC. purchased a new stake in Costamare Inc. (NYSE:CMRE) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 124,005 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,718,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMRE. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Costamare by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,213,838 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $19,082,000 after buying an additional 30,986 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costamare by 5.1% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in shares of Costamare by 87.9% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costamare by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 508,195 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $6,530,000 after buying an additional 8,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Costamare by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 433,995 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $6,822,000 after buying an additional 15,983 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CMRE. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $13.00 target price on shares of Costamare in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Costamare from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th.

Costamare Price Performance

NYSE:CMRE opened at $10.44 on Thursday. Costamare Inc. has a 52 week low of $9.66 and a 52 week high of $17.58. The firm has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $11.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 1.65.

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

Costamare Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 yield of 4.41%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 21st. Costamare’s dividend payout ratio is 18.85%.

About Costamare