AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Stock Price Up 1.4% Following Dividend Announcement

Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) traded up 1.4% on Thursday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock traded as high as $9.57 and last traded at $9.51. 4,351,019 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 13,943,930 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.38.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 100.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AGNC has been the topic of several research reports. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $10.25 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Maxim Group cut shares of AGNC Investment from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, October 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.33.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.23 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market cap of $8.56 billion, a PE ratio of 6.71 and a beta of 1.47. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $10.15 and a 200-day moving average of $9.95.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its 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 company had revenue of $756.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $219.50 million. AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 23.41% and a net margin of 42.19%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. Research analysts predict that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AGNC. Norden Group LLC grew its holdings in AGNC Investment by 20.7% during the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 20,618 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $204,000 after buying an additional 3,529 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 346,731 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,433,000 after buying an additional 23,258 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 13.5% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 154,175 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,526,000 after buying an additional 18,289 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S bought a new position in shares of AGNC Investment in the 1st quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Duality Advisers LP purchased a new position in AGNC Investment in the first quarter worth about $133,000. 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).