AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Rating Increased to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning.

AGNC has been the topic of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a market perform rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $10.25 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Compass Point increased their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.25 to $11.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Maxim Group lowered AGNC Investment from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AGNC Investment presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $10.33.

AGNC Investment Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ:AGNC opened at $10.49 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $10.19 and its 200 day moving average is $9.83. AGNC Investment has a 12 month low of $6.81 and a 12 month high of $10.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.63 billion, a PE ratio of 11.53 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $695.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $643.29 million. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 26.21%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 52.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.67 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that AGNC Investment will post 2.11 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.73%. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is 158.24%.

Insider Activity at AGNC Investment

In other AGNC Investment news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.07, for a total value of $50,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 298,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,002,692.74. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 48,864 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $479,000 after purchasing an additional 3,139 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $99,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $69,215,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in AGNC Investment by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 7,380,614 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $72,404,000 after acquiring an additional 79,316 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 39.9% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 56,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $557,000 after acquiring an additional 16,200 shares in the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AGNC Investment Company Profile

AGNC Investment Corp., formerly American Capital Agency Corp., is a real estate investment trust. The Company invests in agency residential mortgage-backed securities on a leveraged basis. Its investments consist of residential mortgage pass-through securities and collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs) for which the principal and interest payments are guaranteed by a government-sponsored enterprise, such as the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), or by the United States Government agency, such as the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) (collectively, GSEs).