AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Trading 1.1% Higher – What’s Next?

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)’s share price shot up 1.1% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $9.40 and last traded at $9.38. 4,972,810 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 58% from the average session volume of 11,762,094 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.28.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on AGNC shares. StockNews.com lowered AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of AGNC Investment from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $10.00 to $12.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.44.

AGNC Investment Trading Up 1.7 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $9.53 and a 200 day moving average of $9.93. The company has a market capitalization of $8.36 billion, a PE ratio of 6.56 and a beta of 1.47.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.04). AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 23.41% and a net margin of 42.19%. The firm had revenue of $756.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $219.50 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.94 earnings per share 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a dividend yield of 15.1%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.00%.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in AGNC Investment by 2.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,768,305 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $70,796,000 after buying an additional 162,152 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its stake in AGNC Investment by 200.5% in the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 14,446,725 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $151,113,000 after buying an additional 9,639,675 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 4.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,552,969 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $16,242,000 after acquiring an additional 71,330 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,303,616 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $128,730,000 after acquiring an additional 242,640 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 279.0% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 239,493 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,505,000 after acquiring an additional 176,301 shares during the period. 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).