AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Trading Down 0.7%

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)’s stock price was down 0.7% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $10.16 and last traded at $10.21. Approximately 14,305,100 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 14% from the average daily volume of 12,525,642 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.28.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on AGNC. StockNews.com raised AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Compass Point raised their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.25 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $10.50 target price for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AGNC Investment has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.13.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average is $10.04 and its 200-day moving average is $9.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a market cap of $7.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.22 and a beta of 1.48.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $695.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $643.29 million. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 26.21%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 52.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.67 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 2.11 EPS for the current year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a aug 24 dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a yield of 14.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 158.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AGNC Investment

In other news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.07, for a total value of $50,350.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 298,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,002,692.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AGNC Investment

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AGNC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,735,466 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $650,781,000 after purchasing an additional 2,368,658 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,048,520 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $76,783,000 after buying an additional 32,813 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in AGNC Investment by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 7,380,614 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $72,404,000 after purchasing an additional 79,316 shares in the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp raised its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 3.7% during the second quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 7,124,392 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $67,967,000 after purchasing an additional 253,821 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in AGNC Investment during the 4th quarter valued at about $69,215,000. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).