Short Interest in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Drops By 6.4%

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 46,340,000 shares, a drop of 6.4% from the May 31st total of 49,490,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 10,910,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.2 days.

Insider Activity

In other AGNC Investment news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.32, for a total transaction of $32,620.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 309,973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,888,948.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.32, for a total transaction of $32,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 309,973 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,888,948.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Paul E. Mullings sold 5,400 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.40, for a total value of $50,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 111,827 shares in the company, valued at $1,051,173.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,900 shares of company stock worth $149,030 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 37.1% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 930,153 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,781,000 after acquiring an additional 251,847 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 55.2% during the 3rd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 102,390 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $975,000 after buying an additional 36,396 shares in the last quarter. Mariner LLC boosted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 2.5% in the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 77,517 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $732,000 after buying an additional 1,910 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in AGNC Investment by 48.0% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 451,460 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,262,000 after acquiring an additional 146,406 shares during the period. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 4.1% in the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 260,878 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,463,000 after acquiring an additional 10,310 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. Jonestrading lowered their target price on AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. They set a “buy” rating and a $10.50 price objective on the stock. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AGNC Investment presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $9.88.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

AGNC stock opened at $9.69 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. AGNC Investment has a fifty-two week low of $6.81 and a fifty-two week high of $10.64. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $9.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.64. The stock has a market cap of $7.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.65 and a beta of 1.48.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $642.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $568.38 million. AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 27.14% and a net margin of 32.12%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a jun 24 dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a yield of 14.8%. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is 158.24%.

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).