Annaly Downgrade Highlights Mortgage REIT Sector Risks Ahead (NLY, MORT)

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By Jon C. Ogg Updated Published

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Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NYSE: NLY) is holding up rather well considering an analyst downgrade this morning.  The research team at Stern Agee lowered the Annaly rating down to Underperform from an already-cautious rating of Neutral.  The Mortgage-REIT closed at $16.34 on Wednesday and opened at $16.24 on Thursday and it has a 52-week trading range of $14.05 to $18.79.

Today’s move follows a big gap up in the stock on Wednesday because shares closed at $16.11 on Tuesday despite another dividend cut.  The new dividend is only at $0.55 per quarter, down from $0.57, $0.60, and $0.65 in the sequential quarters before.  Now the dividend yield is “only” 13.5% on a static basis.

What makes this call so interesting is that Annaly is often considered the best or one of the best in the field of REITs which are actually buyers of mortgage-backed securities on a leveraged basis.  A rise in long-term interest rates could have a very adverse impact on the portfolio of its mortgages.

The Market Vectors Mortgage REIT (NYSE: MORT) ETF is down only 0.3% at $25.17 on this volume.

JON C. OGG

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

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About the Author Jon C. Ogg →

Jon Ogg has been a financial news analyst since 1997. Mr. Ogg set up one of the first audio squawk box services for traders called TTN, which he sold in 2003. He has previously worked as a licensed broker to some of the top U.S. and E.U. financial institutions, managed capital, and has raised private capital at the seed and venture stage. He has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as New York and Chicago, and he now lives in Houston, Texas. Jon received a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance at University of Houston in 1992. www.247wallst.com.

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