AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Downgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $10.25 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Compass Point increased their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.25 to $11.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Maxim Group cut AGNC Investment from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $10.33.

AGNC Investment Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AGNC opened at $10.31 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.87 and a beta of 1.47. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $10.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. AGNC Investment has a 12-month low of $6.81 and a 12-month high of $10.85.

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

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a oct 24 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a yield of 14%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 389.20%.

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 $3,002,692.74. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,366,808 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $621,628,000 after acquiring an additional 6,019,268 shares in the last quarter. GRS Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter worth about $32,509,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in AGNC Investment in the 3rd quarter worth about $17,463,000. Boston Partners grew its position in AGNC Investment by 522.4% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,437,698 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $14,229,000 after purchasing an additional 1,206,714 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Equity Investment Corp increased its stake in AGNC Investment by 16.2% during the 1st quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 6,870,571 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $68,019,000 after purchasing an additional 957,139 shares in the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is owned by 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).