AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Trading Down 0.2% – Time to Sell?

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)’s stock price dropped 0.2% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $9.39 and last traded at $9.45. Approximately 3,569,650 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 14,178,309 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.47.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on AGNC. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of AGNC Investment from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $10.00 to $12.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.44.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $8.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.53 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.95.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.04). AGNC Investment had a net margin of 42.19% and a return on equity of 23.41%. The company had revenue of $756.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $219.50 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.65 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a dec 24 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a yield of 15.1%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 100.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in AGNC Investment in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in AGNC Investment by 52.2% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,661 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in AGNC Investment by 315.9% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 2,966 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

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).