AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Shares Up 0.7% – Here’s Why

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) rose 0.7% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $10.02 and last traded at $10.02. Approximately 3,699,136 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 19,240,605 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.95.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AGNC has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 target price on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, October 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Trading Up 1.2 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm has a market cap of $8.91 billion, a PE ratio of 10.38 and a beta of 1.48. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $9.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.88.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 EPS for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a jan 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a yield of 15.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 148.46%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 372,226 shares in the company, valued at $3,737,149.04. This represents a 3.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its stake in AGNC Investment by 200.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 14,446,725 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $151,113,000 after acquiring an additional 9,639,675 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 314.8% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 3,842,814 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $40,196,000 after purchasing an additional 2,916,345 shares during the period. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the third quarter worth $17,463,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in AGNC Investment by 115.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,912,694 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $20,007,000 after buying an additional 1,023,275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in AGNC Investment by 945.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,072,039 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $102,489,000 after buying an additional 969,475 shares during the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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).