Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 18,667 AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 18,667 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $179,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Secure Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in AGNC Investment during the first quarter valued at about $130,000. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in AGNC Investment by 6.5% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 777,264 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,446,000 after purchasing an additional 47,699 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 1,315.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 27,744 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,896,000 after acquiring an additional 25,784 shares in the last quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. lifted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 3.6% in the first quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 55,766 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $534,000 after acquiring an additional 1,932 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 734,414 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,764,000 after acquiring an additional 37,683 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Donna Blank sold 17,218 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.67, for a total transaction of $149,280.06. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 90,345 shares in the company, valued at $783,291.15. This trade represents a 16.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Bernice Bell sold 8,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.88, for a total value of $71,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 374,019 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,321,288.72. The trade was a 2.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 139,384 shares of company stock worth $1,228,039 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

AGNC Investment Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:AGNC opened at $9.04 on Thursday. AGNC Investment Corp. has a 52-week low of $7.85 and a 52-week high of $10.85. The stock has a market cap of $9.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.32 and a beta of 1.29. The business’s 50 day moving average is $8.83 and its 200 day moving average is $9.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.03. AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 21.92% and a net margin of 29.26%. The firm had revenue of $846.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $436.71 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.58 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 EPS for the current year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a may 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a yield of 16.2%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 360.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AGNC shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $8.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Jones Trading lowered their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.25 to $9.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $9.86.

AGNC Investment 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).