AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 50,470,000 shares, an increase of 10.7% from the October 15th total of 45,600,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 17,450,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AGNC has been the topic of several analyst reports. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of AGNC Investment from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $10.00 to $12.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. StockNews.com lowered AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 19th. Maxim Group downgraded AGNC Investment from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AGNC Investment has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.33.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

AGNC Investment stock opened at $9.58 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $8.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.65 and a beta of 1.47. AGNC Investment has a 12 month low of $8.57 and a 12 month high of $10.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.23 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $10.09 and its 200-day moving average is $9.96.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.04). AGNC Investment had a net margin of 42.19% and a return on equity of 23.41%. The business had revenue of $756.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $219.50 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.65 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a nov 24 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a yield of 14.9%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.00%.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 200.5% in the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 14,446,725 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $151,113,000 after buying an additional 9,639,675 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in AGNC Investment by 314.8% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 3,842,814 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $40,196,000 after acquiring an additional 2,916,345 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 worth $650,781,000 after acquiring an additional 2,368,658 shares during the period. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in AGNC Investment in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $17,463,000. Finally, Boston Partners grew its position in AGNC Investment by 522.4% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,437,698 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $14,229,000 after acquiring an additional 1,206,714 shares in the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).