Allstate Corp Makes New $289,000 Investment in Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE:NLY)

Allstate Corp purchased a new position in shares of Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE:NLY) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 15,803 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $289,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new position in Annaly Capital Management during the 4th quarter valued at $180,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in shares of Annaly Capital Management by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 281,974 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,160,000 after purchasing an additional 23,789 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Annaly Capital Management in the fourth quarter worth about $115,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Annaly Capital Management in the fourth quarter valued at about $127,397,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Annaly Capital Management by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 383,646 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,282,000 after buying an additional 58,237 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 51.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on NLY. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays started coverage on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a report on Monday, January 6th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $19.00 price objective for the company. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Annaly Capital Management from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.44.

Annaly Capital Management Stock Performance

Annaly Capital Management stock opened at $20.13 on Thursday. Annaly Capital Management, Inc. has a one year low of $17.67 and a one year high of $22.11. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.66, a P/E/G ratio of 4.89 and a beta of 1.31.

Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.05. Annaly Capital Management had a net margin of 20.70% and a return on equity of 14.95%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Annaly Capital Management, Inc. will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Annaly Capital Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.70 dividend. This is a boost from Annaly Capital Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 13.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Annaly Capital Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 176.10%.

About Annaly Capital Management

Annaly Capital Management, Inc, a diversified capital manager, engages in mortgage finance. The company invests in agency mortgage-backed securities collateralized by residential mortgages; non-agency residential whole loans and securitized products within the residential and commercial markets; mortgage servicing rights; agency commercial mortgage-backed securities; to-be-announced forward contracts; residential mortgage loans; and agency or private label credit risk transfer securities.