Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 132,891 Shares of Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE:NLY)

Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE:NLY - Free Report) by 93.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 275,559 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 132,891 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Annaly Capital Management were worth $5,043,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of NLY. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its holdings in Annaly Capital Management by 21.1% in the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 14,154 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $259,000 after purchasing an additional 2,469 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its position in Annaly Capital Management by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 220,404 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $4,033,000 after purchasing an additional 14,776 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its position in shares of Annaly Capital Management by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 903,530 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $16,535,000 after acquiring an additional 72,964 shares during the period. Columbus Macro LLC bought a new position in shares of Annaly Capital Management in the 4th quarter valued at about $6,307,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Annaly Capital Management during the 4th quarter worth about $140,000. 51.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Annaly Capital Management from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Annaly Capital Management from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Argus upgraded shares of Annaly Capital Management from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $21.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays began coverage on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a research note on Monday, January 6th. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $19.00 price objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $21.44.

Annaly Capital Management Price Performance

NLY stock traded down $0.19 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $20.50. The stock had a trading volume of 7,459,270 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,178,078. The company has a current ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Annaly Capital Management, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.67 and a 52 week high of $21.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.90, a P/E/G ratio of 4.66 and a beta of 1.52. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.71.

Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.05. Annaly Capital Management had a net margin of 20.70% and a return on equity of 14.95%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Annaly Capital Management, Inc. will post 2.81 EPS for the current year.

Annaly Capital Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.68%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. Annaly Capital Management's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 163.52%.

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.