Analysts Set Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE:NLY) Price Target at $21.44

Shares of Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE:NLY) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $21.44.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Annaly Capital Management from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a research report on Monday, February 10th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays began coverage on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a research report on Monday, January 6th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $19.00 target price on the stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NLY. Sigma Planning Corp raised its stake in Annaly Capital Management by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 27,124 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $544,000 after purchasing an additional 784 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Annaly Capital Management by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 971,864 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $19,505,000 after acquiring an additional 40,781 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Annaly Capital Management by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,002,975 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $40,200,000 after acquiring an additional 138,320 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its stake in shares of Annaly Capital Management by 213.7% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 56,310 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,130,000 after acquiring an additional 38,361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Annaly Capital Management during the 3rd quarter valued at about $90,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.56% of the company’s stock.

Annaly Capital Management Stock Performance

Shares of NLY opened at $21.85 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.74, a P/E/G ratio of 4.89 and a beta of 1.53. The company’s fifty day moving average is $20.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.97. Annaly Capital Management has a 1 year low of $17.67 and a 1 year high of $22.11.

Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Annaly Capital Management will post 2.81 EPS for the current year.

Annaly Capital Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This is an increase from Annaly Capital Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.82%. Annaly Capital Management’s payout ratio is presently 163.52%.

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.