AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Trading Up 0.2% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) were up 0.2% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $10.39 and last traded at $10.38. Approximately 4,114,284 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 15,988,408 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.35.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AGNC has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Argus raised shares of AGNC Investment to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AGNC Investment has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.93. The company has a market capitalization of $9.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.68 and a beta of 1.50. 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 (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.05). AGNC Investment had a net margin of 29.26% and a return on equity of 21.92%. Equities research analysts predict that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a mar 25 dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a yield of 14.1%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is currently 148.45%.

Insider Activity

In other AGNC Investment news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total value of $50,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 75,919 shares in the company, valued at $766,781.90. The trade was a 6.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total value of $130,520.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 372,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,737,149.04. The trade was a 3.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in AGNC Investment by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 83,316,872 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $767,348,000 after acquiring an additional 10,316,999 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter valued at $87,269,000. PL Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 821.0% during the fourth quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,464,956 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $50,332,000 after acquiring an additional 4,871,584 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,840,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,614,721 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $134,645,000 after purchasing an additional 2,311,105 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

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).