Annaly Capital Management Inc (NYSE:NLY) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Annaly Capital Management Inc (NYSE:NLY) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $24.3333.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a report on Friday, July 10th. Zacks Research raised Annaly Capital Management from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Annaly Capital Management from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. BTIG Research set a $24.00 target price on Annaly Capital Management in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $23.00 target price (up from $22.50) on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a report on Friday, April 24th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Annaly Capital Management

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NLY. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Annaly Capital Management by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,613,639 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,422,401,000 after acquiring an additional 3,024,564 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Annaly Capital Management by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,425,278 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $608,994,000 after purchasing an additional 2,053,451 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Annaly Capital Management by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,401,487 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $411,031,000 after purchasing an additional 1,503,559 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Annaly Capital Management in the fourth quarter valued at about $162,477,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Annaly Capital Management by 33.5% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,977,329 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $156,013,000 after purchasing an additional 1,751,509 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 51.56% of the company’s stock.

Annaly Capital Management Stock Performance

Annaly Capital Management stock opened at $22.77 on Tuesday. Annaly Capital Management has a 52 week low of $20.00 and a 52 week high of $24.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.71, a P/E/G ratio of 5.93 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $22.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.44.

Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $639.80 million. Annaly Capital Management had a net margin of 43.66% and a return on equity of 16.00%. Equities analysts forecast that Annaly Capital Management will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Annaly Capital Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. This is a boost from Annaly Capital Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.2%. Annaly Capital Management’s payout ratio is presently 75.19%.

Annaly Capital Management Company Profile

Annaly Capital Management, Inc is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) that specializes in generating income through investment in mortgage-related assets. The company’s core business activities include the acquisition, financing, and management of a diversified portfolio of agency and non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), and other real estate debt instruments. Annaly seeks to profit from the spread between the interest earned on its mortgage investments and its cost of funds, as well as from capital gains realized through active portfolio management.

Founded in 1997 and headquartered in New York City, Annaly has grown to become one of the largest mortgage REITs in the United States.