AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Shares Up 0.3% After Dividend Announcement

Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) traded up 0.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after the company announced a dividend. The stock traded as high as $10.35 and last traded at $10.34. 3,042,390 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 12,964,430 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.31.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is currently 389.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $10.25 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Compass Point increased their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.25 to $11.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded AGNC Investment from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $10.00 to $12.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, StockNews.com cut AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.33.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27. The company has a market capitalization of $8.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.03 and a beta of 1.47.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $695.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $643.29 million. AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 26.21% and a net margin of 16.15%. The firm’s revenue was up 52.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.67 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 2.11 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at AGNC Investment

In other news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.97, for a total transaction of $49,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 308,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,072,574.54. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $717,000. Norden Group LLC increased its stake in AGNC Investment by 985.9% in the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 185,562 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,837,000 after purchasing an additional 168,473 shares in the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC increased its stake in AGNC Investment by 53.0% in the 1st quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 23,213 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $230,000 after purchasing an additional 8,039 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in AGNC Investment by 339.7% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 102,933 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in AGNC Investment by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,735,466 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $650,781,000 after purchasing an additional 2,368,658 shares in the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AGNC Investment Company 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).