Baker Avenue Asset Management LP Acquires 24,061 Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Baker Avenue Asset Management LP raised its stake in shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) by 136.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 41,631 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,061 shares during the period. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP’s holdings in AGNC Investment were worth $383,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in AGNC Investment by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 83,316,872 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $767,348,000 after purchasing an additional 10,316,999 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter worth $87,269,000. PL Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 821.0% in the fourth quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,464,956 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $50,332,000 after acquiring an additional 4,871,584 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in AGNC Investment in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,840,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in AGNC Investment by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,614,721 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $134,645,000 after purchasing an additional 2,311,105 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AGNC Investment news, CEO Peter J. Federico sold 48,333 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.88, for a total value of $429,197.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,643,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,590,621.44. This trade represents a 2.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Bernice Bell sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.88, for a total transaction of $71,040.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 374,019 shares in the company, valued at $3,321,288.72. This represents a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 127,166 shares of company stock worth $1,129,259. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

AGNC Investment Stock Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ AGNC opened at $8.76 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. AGNC Investment Corp. has a 12 month low of $7.85 and a 12 month high of $10.85. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $9.36 and its 200 day moving average is $9.59. The stock has a market cap of $8.02 billion, a PE ratio of 9.03 and a beta of 1.30.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $846.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $436.71 million. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 29.26% and a return on equity of 21.92%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.58 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a apr 25 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a dividend yield of 17.7%. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is 360.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on AGNC shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Jones Trading decreased their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.25 to $9.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $8.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $9.96.

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).