Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE:NLY)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE:NLY) by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,666,489 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 217,069 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Annaly Capital Management were worth $31,763,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Annaly Capital Management during the 4th quarter valued at about $110,244,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Annaly Capital Management by 159.7% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,118,940 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $118,524,000 after purchasing an additional 3,762,652 shares during the last quarter. Algebris UK Ltd grew its position in Annaly Capital Management by 195.9% in the 1st quarter. Algebris UK Ltd now owns 4,034,821 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $87,532,000 after purchasing an additional 2,671,236 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Annaly Capital Management by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,300,019 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $954,941,000 after buying an additional 1,619,729 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Annaly Capital Management by 1,505.6% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,676,931 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $32,482,000 after buying an additional 1,572,487 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 51.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on NLY. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a research report on Wednesday. Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. They set a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price target for the company. Compass Point raised their price objective on shares of Annaly Capital Management from $22.00 to $23.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Annaly Capital Management from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Annaly Capital Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Annaly Capital Management news, CEO David L. Finkelstein sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.05, for a total value of $1,002,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 612,469 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,280,003.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Annaly Capital Management Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE NLY opened at $20.16 on Friday. Annaly Capital Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $14.52 and a 12 month high of $21.07. The stock has a market cap of $10.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.78 and a beta of 1.53. The company’s 50 day moving average is $19.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.53.

Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $318.00 million. Annaly Capital Management had a negative net margin of 12.02% and a positive return on equity of 15.24%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Annaly Capital Management, Inc. will post 2.67 EPS for the current year.

Annaly Capital Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th were paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.90%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. Annaly Capital Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -268.04%.

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.