Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Makes New $131,000 Investment in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management purchased a new position in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 13,722 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $131,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 18,259 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $168,000 after buying an additional 970 shares during the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 0.5% during the first quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 222,310 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,130,000 after buying an additional 1,186 shares during the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 34.8% during the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 1,229 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 24.2% during the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 6,479 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 1,261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 9.2% in the first quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,316 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $147,000 after purchasing an additional 1,296 shares during the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John D. Fisk sold 20,278 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.65, for a total transaction of $195,682.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 112,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,087,410.25. This represents a 15.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Paul E. Mullings sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.61, for a total transaction of $105,710.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 128,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,234,990.71. This represents a 7.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AGNC Investment Stock Up 1.6%

AGNC opened at $9.63 on Tuesday. AGNC Investment Corp. has a twelve month low of $7.85 and a twelve month high of $10.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $9.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.45. The company has a market cap of $9.83 billion, a PE ratio of 28.32 and a beta of 1.28.

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

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a jul 25 dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a yield of 1,520.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is currently 423.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on AGNC. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $8.50 to $9.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $8.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. One 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, AGNC Investment currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $9.58.

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).