AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 46,570,000 shares, a decline of 22.1% from the February 28th total of 59,800,000 shares. Approximately 5.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 21,330,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.2 days.

AGNC Investment Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ AGNC opened at $9.49 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.78 and a beta of 1.50. AGNC Investment has a 1-year low of $8.92 and a 1-year high of $10.85. The business’s 50 day moving average is $10.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.23 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share 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, research analysts expect that AGNC Investment will post 1.61 EPS for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total transaction of $130,520.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total value of $50,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 75,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $766,781.90. The trade was a 6.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGNC. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 7.4% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 197,489 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,066,000 after buying an additional 13,578 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in AGNC Investment by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 103,556 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,083,000 after acquiring an additional 1,999 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in AGNC Investment by 383.7% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 949,369 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $9,930,000 after purchasing an additional 753,102 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the third quarter worth $1,242,000. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the third quarter valued at $193,000. 38.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AGNC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus upgraded shares of AGNC Investment to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, JMP Securities restated 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 given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AGNC Investment presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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).