AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Stock Price Up 1.1% – Here’s Why

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)’s share price rose 1.1% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $10.45 and last traded at $10.43. Approximately 19,562,474 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 2% from the average daily volume of 19,267,572 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.32.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AGNC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 price objective on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Argus upgraded shares of AGNC Investment to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Stock Down 0.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.79 and a beta of 1.48. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.89.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share (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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a feb 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a dividend yield of 13.8%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 148.46%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 372,226 shares in the company, valued at $3,737,149.04. This trade represents a 3.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the business’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 transaction, the director now owns 75,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $766,781.90. The trade was a 6.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.43% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGNC. Creative Planning increased its holdings in AGNC Investment by 11.7% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 189,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,984,000 after buying an additional 19,965 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in AGNC Investment by 315.9% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 2,966 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in AGNC Investment by 3.3% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,222,595 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,788,000 after buying an additional 38,690 shares during the last quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC bought a new position in AGNC Investment during the third quarter worth $111,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in AGNC Investment by 38.4% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 11,562 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $121,000 after purchasing an additional 3,207 shares during the period. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).