Amundi Acquires 61,302 Shares of Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE:NLY)

Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE:NLY) by 8.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 775,360 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 61,302 shares during the quarter. Amundi’s holdings in Annaly Capital Management were worth $14,352,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of NLY. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Annaly Capital Management by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 18,099,719 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $332,665,000 after purchasing an additional 109,655 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Annaly Capital Management by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,400,024 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $360,296,000 after purchasing an additional 223,294 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Annaly Capital Management by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,638,216 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $172,988,000 after buying an additional 241,465 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Annaly Capital Management by 238.9% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,198,020 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $95,124,000 after buying an additional 3,664,098 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Annaly Capital Management by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,040,958 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $73,950,000 after buying an additional 325,542 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 51.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Annaly Capital Management Trading Up 2.5 %

NLY opened at $21.63 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.60, a PEG ratio of 4.89 and a beta of 1.53. Annaly Capital Management, Inc. has a 12-month low of $17.67 and a 12-month high of $22.11. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $20.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.96.

Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.05. Annaly Capital Management had a net margin of 20.70% and a return on equity of 14.95%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Annaly Capital Management, Inc. will post 2.81 EPS for the current year.

Annaly Capital Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.94%. This is a positive change from Annaly Capital Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Annaly Capital Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 163.52%.

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.