AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Shares Up 1%

Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) shot up 1% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $9.49 and last traded at $9.39. 4,093,378 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 65% from the average session volume of 11,817,126 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.30.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AGNC. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Barclays upped their target price on AGNC Investment from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Compass Point initiated coverage on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $10.25 target price for the company. Finally, Jonestrading reduced their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $9.79.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $6.53 billion, a PE ratio of 10.33 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a current ratio of 0.26. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.28.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $642.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $568.38 million. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 32.12% and a return on equity of 27.92%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 2.1 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a apr 24 dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 15.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is currently 158.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.35, for a total transaction of $46,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 75,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $706,345.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AGNC. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new stake in AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,593,000. Citigroup Inc. increased its position in AGNC Investment by 103.2% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 185,721 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,753,000 after purchasing an additional 94,332 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in AGNC Investment by 4.7% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,752,044 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $16,539,000 after buying an additional 78,253 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in AGNC Investment by 48.0% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 451,460 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,262,000 after buying an additional 146,406 shares in the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in AGNC Investment during the third quarter worth approximately $3,655,000. 38.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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).