Simplify Asset Management Inc. Buys 11,550 Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Simplify Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 143,550 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 11,550 shares during the quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in AGNC Investment were worth $1,322,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,303,616 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $128,730,000 after acquiring an additional 242,640 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in AGNC Investment by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,662,954 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $80,392,000 after purchasing an additional 424,990 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,349,657 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $67,690,000 after purchasing an additional 581,352 shares during the last quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 821.0% in the 4th quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,464,956 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $50,332,000 after purchasing an additional 4,871,584 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,870,678 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $44,859,000 after buying an additional 575,292 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at AGNC Investment

In related news, 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 transaction of $50,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 75,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $766,781.90. This represents a 6.18 % 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, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total value of $130,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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. 0.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

AGNC Investment Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of AGNC Investment stock opened at $10.17 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.31 billion, a PE ratio of 10.48 and a beta of 1.50. AGNC Investment Corp. has a 52 week low of $8.92 and a 52 week high of $10.85. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $10.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.23.

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

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AGNC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus raised AGNC Investment to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 price target on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AGNC Investment presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.50.

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).