Traders Buy High Volume of Annaly Capital Management Call Options (NYSE:NLY)

Annaly Capital Management Inc (NYSE:NLY) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders purchased 33,501 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 90% compared to the typical daily volume of 17,618 call options.

Annaly Capital Management Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NLY traded up $0.04 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $22.84. The company had a trading volume of 2,578,501 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,594,399. Annaly Capital Management has a 1 year low of $16.59 and a 1 year high of $22.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.58, a P/E/G ratio of 6.47 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.09. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $20.55.

Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $493.55 million. Annaly Capital Management had a net margin of 26.68% and a return on equity of 15.96%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Annaly Capital Management will post 2.81 EPS for the current year.

Annaly Capital Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. Annaly Capital Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 129.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NLY has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research lowered Annaly Capital Management from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Jones Trading restated a “buy” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. UBS Group lifted their price target on Annaly Capital Management from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Annaly Capital Management from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.71.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Annaly Capital Management

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NLY. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Annaly Capital Management in the second quarter valued at about $130,626,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in Annaly Capital Management during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $100,216,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of Annaly Capital Management by 394.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 5,374,696 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $108,623,000 after purchasing an additional 4,286,893 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Annaly Capital Management by 833.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,920,617 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $59,318,000 after purchasing an additional 2,607,784 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Annaly Capital Management by 4.2% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,701,446 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,104,761,000 after purchasing an additional 2,344,867 shares during the last quarter. 51.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Annaly Capital Management Company Profile

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.