AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Trading Up 0.1% – Still a Buy?

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)’s stock price shot up 0.1% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $10.50 and last traded at $10.49. 3,017,121 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 18,892,920 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.47.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AGNC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 target price on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus upgraded shares of AGNC Investment to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AGNC Investment currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $9.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.91. The company has a market capitalization of $9.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.87 and a beta of 1.48.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.05). AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 21.92% and a net margin of 29.26%. Equities research analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a feb 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a yield of 13.8%. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is 148.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AGNC Investment news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 6.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 372,226 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,737,149.04. This trade represents a 3.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in AGNC Investment by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 83,316,872 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $767,348,000 after acquiring an additional 10,316,999 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in AGNC Investment by 18.8% in the fourth 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 during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 200.5% during the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 14,446,725 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $151,113,000 after purchasing an additional 9,639,675 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter worth about $87,269,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake 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 in the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).