Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE:NLY) Short Interest Down 12.7% in February

Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE:NLY) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 14,540,000 shares, a decrease of 12.7% from the January 31st total of 16,650,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 7,190,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days. Currently, 2.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Annaly Capital Management by 209.9% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 850 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Annaly Capital Management in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Annaly Capital Management by 78.5% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,630 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 717 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Annaly Capital Management by 34.4% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,143 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 549 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Annaly Capital Management in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 51.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Annaly Capital Management from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays began coverage on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a research note on Monday, January 6th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $19.00 target price for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.44.

Annaly Capital Management Stock Down 1.8 %

NLY stock traded down $0.39 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $21.31. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,090,952 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,551,847. Annaly Capital Management has a 52-week low of $17.67 and a 52-week high of $22.05. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.40, a PEG ratio of 4.89 and a beta of 1.53.

Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.05. Annaly Capital Management had a return on equity of 14.95% and a net margin of 20.70%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Annaly Capital Management will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.