Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY) Upgraded by Argus to “Buy” Rating

Argus upgraded shares of Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $21.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on NLY. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Annaly Capital Management from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Compass Point upped their target price on shares of Annaly Capital Management from $22.00 to $23.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Annaly Capital Management from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $19.00 to $23.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Annaly Capital Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.33.

Annaly Capital Management Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE NLY traded down $0.04 during trading on Thursday, reaching $18.97. The company had a trading volume of 1,936,412 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,130,383. Annaly Capital Management has a 52 week low of $16.56 and a 52 week high of $21.11. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $20.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.76.

Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.01). Annaly Capital Management had a return on equity of 14.75% and a net margin of 2.59%. The company had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $212.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Annaly Capital Management will post 2.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Annaly Capital Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 13.71%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Annaly Capital Management’s payout ratio is -3,714.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David L. Finkelstein sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.05, for a total transaction of $1,002,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 612,469 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,280,003.45. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Annaly Capital Management by 70.2% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,568 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 647 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Annaly Capital Management in the second quarter valued at about $36,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Annaly Capital Management by 107.5% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,077 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,076 shares during the period. Toth Financial Advisory Corp raised its position in shares of Annaly Capital Management by 31.8% in the third quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 2,390 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 576 shares during the period. Finally, Tobam bought a new position in shares of Annaly Capital Management in the first quarter valued at about $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.56% of the company’s stock.

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.