Welch Group LLC Purchases New Position in Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE:NLY)

Welch Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE:NLY - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 14,473 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $299,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Summit Global Investments bought a new stake in shares of Annaly Capital Management in the first quarter worth $285,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Annaly Capital Management by 3,629.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 99,722 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,025,000 after buying an additional 97,048 shares during the period. Howard Financial Services LTD. grew its position in Annaly Capital Management by 4.6% during the first quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 30,156 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $612,000 after buying an additional 1,333 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Annaly Capital Management by 135.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,265,432 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $23,157,000 after buying an additional 728,307 shares during the period. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in Annaly Capital Management by 18.6% during the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 980,636 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $17,946,000 after buying an additional 153,940 shares during the period. 51.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NLY has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Annaly Capital Management from $20.15 to $20.50 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Annaly Capital Management from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler cut their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Annaly Capital Management from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Jones Trading reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $21.00 target price on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $21.00.

Annaly Capital Management Stock Down 1.1%

NLY traded down $0.22 on Friday, hitting $18.96. The company had a trading volume of 18,871,415 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,476,816. The company has a market cap of $11.33 billion, a PE ratio of 11.92, a PEG ratio of 4.89 and a beta of 1.25. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $19.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.75. Annaly Capital Management, Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.60 and a 12-month high of $22.11.

Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.01. Annaly Capital Management had a net margin of 20.70% and a return on equity of 14.95%. The company had revenue of $186.64 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $418.04 million. On average, analysts anticipate that Annaly Capital Management, Inc. will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Annaly Capital Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 14.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This is a positive change from Annaly Capital Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Annaly Capital Management's payout ratio is 314.61%.

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.