Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY) Given New $23.00 Price Target at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY) had its price objective decreased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $25.00 to $23.00 in a research report report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on NLY. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Annaly Capital Management from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Argus upgraded Annaly Capital Management to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. JonesTrading raised their price target on Annaly Capital Management from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Annaly Capital Management from $23.25 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.89.

Annaly Capital Management Stock Down 2.3%

NYSE NLY opened at $22.13 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $22.23. Annaly Capital Management has a twelve month low of $17.39 and a twelve month high of $24.52. The company has a market capitalization of $15.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.96, a PEG ratio of 6.96 and a beta of 1.23.

Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.02. Annaly Capital Management had a return on equity of 15.80% and a net margin of 34.02%.The business had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $567.67 million. On average, equities analysts expect that Annaly Capital Management will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Annaly Capital Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. Annaly Capital Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Serena Wolfe sold 16,536 shares of Annaly Capital Management stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.14, for a total value of $382,643.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 173,081 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,005,094.34. The trade was a 8.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Steven Francis Campbell sold 28,225 shares of Annaly Capital Management stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.12, for a total transaction of $652,562.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 204,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,727,831.92. The trade was a 12.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 71,252 shares of company stock worth $1,639,995. 0.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Annaly Capital Management by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,613,639 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,422,401,000 after buying an additional 3,024,564 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Annaly Capital Management by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,425,278 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $608,994,000 after buying an additional 2,053,451 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Annaly Capital Management by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,401,487 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $411,031,000 after buying an additional 1,503,559 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Annaly Capital Management in the fourth quarter worth $162,477,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Annaly Capital Management by 33.5% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,977,329 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $156,013,000 after buying an additional 1,751,509 shares during the period. 51.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Annaly Capital Management Company Profile

Annaly Capital Management, Inc is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) that specializes in generating income through investment in mortgage-related assets. The company’s core business activities include the acquisition, financing, and management of a diversified portfolio of agency and non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), and other real estate debt instruments. Annaly seeks to profit from the spread between the interest earned on its mortgage investments and its cost of funds, as well as from capital gains realized through active portfolio management.

Founded in 1997 and headquartered in New York City, Annaly has grown to become one of the largest mortgage REITs in the United States.