Annaly Capital Management Inc (NYSE:NLY) Short Interest Up 49.1% in March

Annaly Capital Management Inc (NYSE:NLY) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 21,670,917 shares, a growth of 49.1% from the March 15th total of 14,532,723 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 10,838,195 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.0 days. Currently, 3.0% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insider Transactions at Annaly Capital Management

In other Annaly Capital Management news, CFO Serena Wolfe sold 16,536 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 173,081 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,005,094.34. This represents a 8.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Steven Francis Campbell sold 28,225 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were 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 $4,727,831.92. The trade was a 12.13% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 71,252 shares of company stock worth $1,639,995 in the last ninety days. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Annaly Capital Management

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in 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 valued at $1,422,401,000 after acquiring an additional 3,024,564 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in 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 valued at $608,994,000 after acquiring an additional 2,053,451 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in 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 valued at $411,031,000 after acquiring an additional 1,503,559 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Annaly Capital Management in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $162,477,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in 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 valued at $156,013,000 after acquiring an additional 1,751,509 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on NLY. Argus raised shares of Annaly Capital Management to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Annaly Capital Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Annaly Capital Management from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Annaly Capital Management from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Annaly Capital Management from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Annaly Capital Management has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.78.

Annaly Capital Management Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NLY traded up $0.28 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $22.68. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,012,125 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,326,811. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $22.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.23. The company has a market capitalization of $16.29 billion, a PE ratio of 8.16, a P/E/G ratio of 6.89 and a beta of 1.23. Annaly Capital Management has a fifty-two week low of $17.39 and a fifty-two week high of $24.52.

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

Annaly Capital Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.3%. Annaly Capital Management’s payout ratio is 100.72%.

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.