Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) by 7.6% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 28,175 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 2,002 shares during the quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in AGNC Investment were worth $270,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGNC. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 408,004 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,758,000 after buying an additional 37,150 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 1,238,895 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,410,000 after buying an additional 131,954 shares in the last quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co purchased a new stake in AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter worth $228,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter worth $87,269,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter worth $124,000. 38.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Bernice Bell sold 8,000 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 374,019 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,321,288.72. This trade represents a 2.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 owned 90,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $783,291.15. The trade was a 16.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AGNC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $8.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $8.50 to $9.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $9.58.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AGNC opened at $9.68 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.47 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. AGNC Investment Corp. has a 52 week low of $7.85 and a 52 week high of $10.85.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $830.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $447.37 million. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 11.50% and a return on equity of 19.63%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a jul 25 dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a yield of 15.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is currently 423.53%.

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).