Annaly Capital Management Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:NLY)

Key Points

• Annaly Capital Management Inc. experienced a significant surge in options trading, with 32,782 call options purchased, marking a 233% increase from typical volumes.
• In the fourth quarter, several institutional investors increased their stakes, with Price T Rowe Associates boosting its holdings by 31.6% and Vanguard Group increasing by 12.0%.
• Analysts have set new price targets for Annaly Capital Management, with Piper Sandler lowering their target to $21.00, while others, like UBS Group, upgraded their target to $20.00.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.70 per share, offering an attractive annual yield of 13.66%, despite a high payout ratio of 277.23%.

Annaly Capital Management Inc (NYSE:NLY - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock traders purchased 32,782 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 233% compared to the typical volume of 9,856 call options.

Institutional Trading of Annaly Capital Management

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NLY. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Annaly Capital Management by 31.6% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 34,426,571 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $630,007,000 after purchasing an additional 8,272,674 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Annaly Capital Management in the fourth quarter valued at $127,397,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Annaly Capital Management by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,721,696 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,001,407,000 after purchasing an additional 5,859,104 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in Annaly Capital Management in the second quarter valued at $100,216,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Annaly Capital Management by 90.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,587,581 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $138,853,000 after purchasing an additional 3,606,366 shares during the period. 51.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Annaly Capital Management from $21.50 to $21.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $20.00 target price (up previously from $18.00) on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a report on Thursday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Annaly Capital Management from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on Annaly Capital Management from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Annaly Capital Management from $20.50 to $21.50 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. Four 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 presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $21.00.

Annaly Capital Management Stock Performance

Annaly Capital Management stock traded down $0.06 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $20.51. 1,361,665 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,916,693. Annaly Capital Management has a 52 week low of $16.59 and a 52 week high of $22.11. The firm has a market cap of $12.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.30, a P/E/G ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 1.22. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $19.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.75.

Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.01. Annaly Capital Management had a return on equity of 15.77% and a net margin of 13.76%. The business had revenue of $273.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $237.00 million. Research analysts forecast that Annaly Capital Management will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Annaly Capital Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.66%. Annaly Capital Management's payout ratio is 277.23%.

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.

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