AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Trading 1.4% Higher

Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) were up 1.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $9.75 and last traded at $9.75. Approximately 2,510,078 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 11,982,663 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.62.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AGNC shares. StockNews.com raised shares of AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Jonestrading initiated coverage on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Friday, March 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $10.75 target price for the company. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $9.00 target price on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Wednesday, December 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.06.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $9.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.88 billion, a PE ratio of 990.99 and a beta of 1.45.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.11. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 28.02%. The company had revenue of $640.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $570.42 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.74 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 2.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a mar 24 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 29th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a yield of 14.8%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14,414.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AGNC Investment news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.85, for a total value of $98,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 287,282 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,829,727.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,670,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in AGNC Investment by 43.5% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 21,021 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $206,000 after acquiring an additional 6,369 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in AGNC Investment by 339.7% in the fourth quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 133,230 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,323,000 after acquiring an additional 102,933 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in AGNC Investment by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,366,808 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $621,628,000 after acquiring an additional 6,019,268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in AGNC Investment in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $123,000. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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).