AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Trading 2.1% Higher – Should You Buy?

Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) were up 2.1% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $9.00 and last traded at $8.98. Approximately 11,090,155 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 44% from the average daily volume of 19,807,529 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.79.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $8.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $9.96.

AGNC Investment Trading Up 2.4%

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.55. 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 firm has a market cap of $9.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.28 and a beta of 1.30.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.03. AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 21.92% and a net margin of 29.26%. The business had revenue of $846.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $436.71 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.58 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a may 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a yield of 16.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is presently 360.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Peter J. Federico sold 48,333 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.70, for a total value of $420,497.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,691,421 shares in the company, valued at $14,715,362.70. The trade was a 2.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Donna Blank sold 17,218 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.67, for a total transaction of $149,280.06. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 90,345 shares in the company, valued at approximately $783,291.15. This represents a 16.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 139,384 shares of company stock valued at $1,228,039. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in AGNC Investment by 24.0% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 11,369 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $109,000 after buying an additional 2,203 shares in the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC grew its holdings in AGNC Investment by 106.0% during the first quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 34,253 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $328,000 after buying an additional 17,626 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its holdings in AGNC Investment by 227.5% during the first quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 587,625 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,629,000 after buying an additional 408,182 shares in the last quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC grew its holdings in AGNC Investment by 14.6% during the first quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC now owns 156,591 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,500,000 after buying an additional 19,980 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in AGNC Investment by 496.7% during the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,487,202 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $14,247,000 after buying an additional 1,862,128 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

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).