Short Interest in Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE:NLY) Decreases By 21.0%

Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE:NLY) was the target of a large decrease in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,290,000 shares, a decrease of 21.0% from the June 30th total of 10,500,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,480,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Annaly Capital Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NLY traded up $0.22 during trading on Friday, reaching $19.86. The company had a trading volume of 2,894,811 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,095,740. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $19.75 and its 200 day moving average is $19.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.94 billion, a PE ratio of -20.47 and a beta of 1.54. Annaly Capital Management has a twelve month low of $14.52 and a twelve month high of $21.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.10 and a current ratio of 0.09.

Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $318.00 million. Annaly Capital Management had a negative net margin of 12.02% and a positive return on equity of 15.24%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.72 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Annaly Capital Management will post 2.63 EPS for the current year.

Annaly Capital Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 13.09%. Annaly Capital Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently -268.04%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Annaly Capital Management during the 4th quarter worth $110,244,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Annaly Capital Management by 159.7% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,118,940 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $118,524,000 after buying an additional 3,762,652 shares during the period. Algebris UK Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Annaly Capital Management by 195.9% during the 1st quarter. Algebris UK Ltd now owns 4,034,821 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $87,532,000 after buying an additional 2,671,236 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Annaly Capital Management by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,300,019 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $954,941,000 after buying an additional 1,619,729 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Annaly Capital Management by 1,505.6% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,676,931 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $32,482,000 after buying an additional 1,572,487 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on NLY. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Annaly Capital Management from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Annaly Capital Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 target price for the company. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Compass Point upped their target price on shares of Annaly Capital Management from $22.00 to $23.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.25.

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.