AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Stock Price Up 0.7% – Time to Buy?

Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) shot up 0.7% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $8.62 and last traded at $8.50. 12,220,370 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 33% from the average session volume of 18,349,362 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.44.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 price objective on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Argus upgraded AGNC Investment to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $7.74 billion, a PE ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.23. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $9.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.77.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.05). AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 21.92% and a net margin of 29.26%. As a group, research analysts predict that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a apr 25 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a yield of 17.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 148.45%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total transaction of $50,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 75,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $766,781.90. This represents a 6.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total transaction of $130,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 372,226 shares in the company, valued at $3,737,149.04. This represents a 3.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 4.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,552,969 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $16,242,000 after acquiring an additional 71,330 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,303,616 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $128,730,000 after buying an additional 242,640 shares during the period. Howard Financial Services LTD. boosted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 195.2% in the 4th quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 53,834 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $496,000 after buying an additional 35,598 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in AGNC Investment by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,349,657 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $67,690,000 after acquiring an additional 581,352 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 35.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 584,370 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,060,000 after purchasing an additional 154,029 shares in the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).