Delphi Financial Group Inc. Purchases 170,000 Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Delphi Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) by 122.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 309,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 170,000 shares during the period. AGNC Investment comprises 1.5% of Delphi Financial Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Delphi Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in AGNC Investment were worth $2,846,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 21,428 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $197,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075 shares during the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 18,505 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $170,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares during the last quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 10.0% in the third quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,947 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $135,000 after acquiring an additional 1,176 shares during the last quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 0.6% in the third quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 222,450 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,327,000 after acquiring an additional 1,290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 4.2% in the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 34,618 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $362,000 after acquiring an additional 1,391 shares during the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total transaction of $130,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 372,226 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,737,149.04. This represents a 3.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total value of $50,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 75,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $766,781.90. This trade represents a 6.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $11.00 price target on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AGNC opened at $10.43 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. AGNC Investment Corp. has a twelve month low of $8.92 and a twelve month high of $10.85. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $9.82 and its 200-day moving average is $9.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 1.48.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.05). AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 21.92% and a net margin of 29.26%. Sell-side analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a feb 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 13.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is 148.45%.

About AGNC Investment

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).