Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Increases Holdings in Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE:NLY)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE:NLY - Free Report) by 9.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 281,974 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 23,789 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned 0.05% of Annaly Capital Management worth $5,160,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NLY. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $1,001,407,000 after buying an additional 5,859,104 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Annaly Capital Management by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 18,099,719 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $332,665,000 after purchasing an additional 109,655 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Annaly Capital Management by 1.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,400,024 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $360,296,000 after purchasing an additional 223,294 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Annaly Capital Management by 2.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,638,216 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $172,988,000 after purchasing an additional 241,465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Annaly Capital Management during the fourth quarter valued at $127,397,000. Institutional investors own 51.56% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on NLY. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Barclays initiated coverage on Annaly Capital Management in a research note on Monday, January 6th. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $19.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Annaly Capital Management from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Annaly Capital Management from $21.00 to $20.15 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $21.29.

Annaly Capital Management Stock Performance

NLY stock traded down $0.28 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $17.86. 12,171,775 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,720,828. The company has a market capitalization of $10.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.89 and a beta of 1.31. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.97. Annaly Capital Management, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.67 and a 12 month high of $22.11.

Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 15.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is an increase from Annaly Capital Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Annaly Capital Management's payout ratio is currently 176.10%.

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.