Equity Investment Corp Decreases Stake in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Equity Investment Corp cut its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,832,381 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 441,786 shares during the period. Equity Investment Corp owned approximately 0.77% of AGNC Investment worth $62,926,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 2.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,768,305 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $70,796,000 after acquiring an additional 162,152 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 200.5% in 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 during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in AGNC Investment by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,552,969 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $16,242,000 after purchasing an additional 71,330 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 242,640 shares during the period. Finally, Howard Financial Services LTD. raised its stake in AGNC Investment by 195.2% during the 4th quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 53,834 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $496,000 after buying an additional 35,598 shares during the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

NASDAQ:AGNC opened at $10.51 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.92. AGNC Investment Corp. has a 52 week low of $8.92 and a 52 week high of $10.85. The stock has a market cap of $9.30 billion, a PE ratio of 10.83 and a beta of 1.48. 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 issued its 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, analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a feb 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. 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 is 148.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $11.00 target price on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus upgraded shares of AGNC Investment to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.50.

Insider Activity at AGNC Investment

In related news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 75,919 shares of the company’s stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 372,226 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,737,149.04. The trade was a 3.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.43% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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).