AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Trading 1.1% Higher – What’s Next?

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)’s stock price shot up 1.1% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $9.40 and last traded at $9.38. 4,972,810 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 58% from the average session volume of 11,762,094 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.28.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of AGNC Investment from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $10.00 to $12.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. StockNews.com cut AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, October 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AGNC Investment currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.44.

AGNC Investment Stock Up 1.7 %

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $9.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a market capitalization of $8.36 billion, a PE ratio of 6.56 and a beta of 1.47.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last announced 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). The business had revenue of $756.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $219.50 million. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 42.19% and a return on equity of 23.41%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.65 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a dec 24 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 15.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is presently 100.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AGNC. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in AGNC Investment by 27.9% during the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 596,924 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,695,000 after purchasing an additional 130,134 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in AGNC Investment by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 926,469 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,838,000 after acquiring an additional 15,802 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 19,712 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $188,000 after acquiring an additional 1,012 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in AGNC Investment by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,316,724 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $50,722,000 after acquiring an additional 54,153 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in AGNC Investment by 5.6% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 194,761 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,858,000 after purchasing an additional 10,326 shares during the period. 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).