Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC)

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock investors purchased 50,171 call options on the company. This is an increase of 99% compared to the average volume of 25,150 call options.

AGNC Investment Stock Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:AGNC opened at $10.56 on Wednesday. AGNC Investment has a 12-month low of $6.81 and a 12-month high of $10.65. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $7.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.60 and a beta of 1.47. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.80.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.01). The firm 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 revenue for the quarter was up 52.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.67 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that AGNC Investment will post 2.11 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is 158.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on AGNC. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $10.25 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. They set a “buy” rating and a $10.50 price objective for the company. Maxim Group lowered AGNC Investment from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Compass Point boosted their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.25 to $11.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.07, for a total value of $50,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 298,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,002,692.74. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in AGNC Investment by 3.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,735,466 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $650,781,000 after purchasing an additional 2,368,658 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in AGNC Investment by 0.4% during the second 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 purchasing an additional 32,813 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in AGNC Investment by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 7,380,614 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $72,404,000 after purchasing an additional 79,316 shares during the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp lifted its stake in 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 last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter worth $69,215,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

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).