AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Trading Up 1.7% – Still a Buy?

Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) traded up 1.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $9.16 and last traded at $9.14. 9,522,636 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 54% from the average session volume of 20,688,092 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.98.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

AGNC Investment Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average of $8.94 and a 200 day moving average of $9.51. 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 firm has a market cap of $9.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.38 and a beta of 1.30.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $846.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $436.71 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.58 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Peter J. Federico sold 48,333 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.70, for a total transaction of $420,497.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,691,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,715,362.70. This represents a 2.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Donna Blank sold 17,218 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 90,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $783,291.15. This trade represents a 16.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 139,384 shares of company stock valued at $1,228,039 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGNC. Barclays PLC grew its position in AGNC Investment by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,552,969 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $16,242,000 after acquiring an additional 71,330 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in AGNC Investment by 8.6% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Farringdon Capital Ltd. purchased a new stake in AGNC Investment during the 4th quarter valued at about $639,000. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in AGNC Investment by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 33,854 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $312,000 after acquiring an additional 1,551 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C. raised its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 87.6% in the fourth quarter. Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C. now owns 98,144 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $904,000 after purchasing an additional 45,815 shares during the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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).