Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY) Raised to “Buy” at Argus

Argus upgraded shares of Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Argus currently has $21.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

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

Annaly Capital Management Price Performance

NYSE:NLY traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $18.97. 1,936,412 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,130,383. Annaly Capital Management has a one year low of $16.56 and a one year high of $21.11. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.76.

Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.00 million. Annaly Capital Management had a return on equity of 14.75% and a net margin of 2.59%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Annaly Capital Management will post 2.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Annaly Capital Management Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Annaly Capital Management

In other Annaly Capital Management news, CEO David L. Finkelstein sold 50,000 shares of Annaly Capital Management 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 612,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,280,003.45. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Annaly Capital Management

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 647 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Annaly Capital Management in the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased 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 worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,076 shares during the last quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp increased 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 worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 576 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tobam bought a new position in shares of Annaly Capital Management in the first quarter worth approximately $53,000. 51.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.