Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE:NLY) Shares Sold by Lbp Am Sa

Lbp Am Sa lessened its position in shares of Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE:NLY) by 57.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 148,320 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 199,264 shares during the period. Lbp Am Sa’s holdings in Annaly Capital Management were worth $2,714,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in Annaly Capital Management by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 376,720 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,894,000 after acquiring an additional 23,350 shares in the last quarter. PGGM Investments grew its holdings in Annaly Capital Management by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 572,828 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,483,000 after acquiring an additional 32,329 shares in the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ grew its holdings in Annaly Capital Management by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 112,339 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,102,000 after acquiring an additional 5,038 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in Annaly Capital Management by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,520,400 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $27,823,000 after acquiring an additional 38,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Securian Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Annaly Capital Management by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 42,376 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $775,000 after acquiring an additional 3,417 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NLY has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a report on Monday, January 6th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $19.00 price target for the company. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Annaly Capital Management from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a report on Monday, February 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.44.

Annaly Capital Management Price Performance

NLY stock opened at $21.63 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $20.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.96. Annaly Capital Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.67 and a 12 month high of $22.11. The company has a market cap of $12.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.89 and a beta of 1.53.

Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.72 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Annaly Capital Management, Inc. will post 2.81 earnings per share 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is a boost from Annaly Capital Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Annaly Capital Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.