AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Trading 0.2% Higher – Should You Buy?

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)’s share price traded up 0.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $10.17 and last traded at $10.14. 4,082,421 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 19,378,740 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.11.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Argus raised shares of AGNC Investment to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price 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. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $11.00 target price on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One research 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.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Trading Up 0.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.23 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $9.55 and its 200 day moving average is $9.88. The company has a market capitalization of $8.97 billion, a PE ratio of 10.44 and a beta of 1.48.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last issued 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%. As a group, equities analysts predict that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 EPS for the current year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a jan 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a yield of 15.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is 148.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,737,149.04. This represents a 3.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.43% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AGNC. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its holdings in AGNC Investment by 200.5% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 9,639,675 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in AGNC Investment by 2.0% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew 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 valued at $80,392,000 after buying an additional 424,990 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in AGNC Investment by 8.6% during 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 buying an additional 581,352 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Equity Investment Corp grew its holdings in AGNC Investment by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 7,274,167 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $76,088,000 after buying an additional 149,775 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

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).