Ethic Inc. Buys 50,550 Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Ethic Inc. boosted its stake in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) by 238.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 71,753 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 50,550 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in AGNC Investment were worth $661,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 18,259 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $168,000 after acquiring an additional 970 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 21,428 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $197,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075 shares during the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 18,505 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $170,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares during the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 34.8% in the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 1,229 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 46,399 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 1,303 shares during the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

Shares of AGNC opened at $8.96 on Thursday. AGNC Investment Corp. has a 12-month low of $7.85 and a 12-month high of $10.85. The business’s fifty day moving average is $9.16 and its 200 day moving average is $9.54. 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 has a market cap of $9.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.24 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 company had revenue of $846.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $436.71 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.58 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AGNC Investment news, Director Donna Blank sold 17,218 shares of the firm’s 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 trade represents a 16.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Peter J. Federico sold 48,333 shares of the firm’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 approximately $14,715,362.70. This trade represents a 2.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 139,384 shares of company stock worth $1,228,039 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on AGNC. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $8.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com cut AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AGNC Investment has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $9.96.

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).