Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE:NLY) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.70

Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE:NLY) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, March 13th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of 0.70 per share by the real estate investment trust on Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is a 7.7% increase from Annaly Capital Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65.

Annaly Capital Management has raised its dividend by an average of 43.5% annually over the last three years. Annaly Capital Management has a payout ratio of 91.2% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Research analysts expect Annaly Capital Management to earn $2.78 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 93.5%.

Annaly Capital Management Stock Up 2.5 %

NLY stock opened at $21.63 on Friday. Annaly Capital Management has a twelve month low of $17.67 and a twelve month high of $22.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.89 and a beta of 1.53. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.96.

Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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, equities research analysts expect that Annaly Capital Management will post 2.81 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NLY. Barclays began coverage on Annaly Capital Management in a research report on Monday, January 6th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $19.00 target price for the company. 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 report on Friday, January 31st. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Annaly Capital Management in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective 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 given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Annaly Capital Management presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.44.

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.