AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Shares Up 4% – Here’s What Happened

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)’s stock price shot up 4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $11.10 and last traded at $11.07. 31,163,403 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 66% from the average daily volume of 18,750,559 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.64.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on AGNC shares. Compass Point downgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $11.50 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, July 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $12.00 price objective on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $11.50 target price (up from $11.00) on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AGNC Investment presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.11.

AGNC Investment Trading Up 4.0%

The stock has a market capitalization of $12.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.83 and a beta of 1.31. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.81.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 20th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $305.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.06 billion. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 57.94% and a return on equity of 18.20%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.17) EPS. Research analysts predict that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 11th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 13.0%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is 75.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AGNC Investment news, Director Donna Blank sold 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.78, for a total transaction of $237,160.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 96,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,039,957.38. This trade represents a 18.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AGNC. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 97,745,127 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,047,828,000 after buying an additional 1,304,782 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 29,097,741 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $312,275,000 after acquiring an additional 1,596,244 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,245,939 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $197,774,000 after acquiring an additional 1,090,374 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter valued at about $141,830,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its position in AGNC Investment by 24.3% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,491,585 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $80,310,000 after acquiring an additional 1,462,468 shares during the period. 38.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AGNC Investment Company Profile

AGNC Investment Corp. is a self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT) that primarily acquires and manages a portfolio of residential mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by U.S. government-sponsored enterprises such as Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The company employs a leveraged total return strategy, borrowing against its securities to enhance income potential while using interest rate hedges to manage risk. AGNC’s investment objective is to generate attractive monthly dividends and long-term capital appreciation for its shareholders.

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, AGNC focuses exclusively on U.S.