AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, June 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $10.50 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $10.25 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Maxim Group downgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.13.

AGNC Investment Stock Up 0.9 %

AGNC Investment stock opened at $10.19 on Friday. AGNC Investment has a twelve month low of $6.81 and a twelve month high of $10.57. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $9.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.71. The company has a market capitalization of $7.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.20 and a beta of 1.48. 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 (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its 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). AGNC Investment had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 26.78%. The company had revenue of $695.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $643.29 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.67 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 52.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that AGNC Investment will post 2.11 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the 4th quarter valued at $69,215,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in AGNC Investment by 397.8% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 816,904 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,015,000 after purchasing an additional 652,799 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter worth $152,000. Brown Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter worth $99,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter worth $717,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

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).