AGNC Investment Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:AGNC)

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Traders bought 52,294 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 38% compared to the average volume of 37,759 put options.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Angel Oak Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the 4th quarter worth about $281,000. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 452,530 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,204,000 after buying an additional 43,082 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 23,517 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $217,000 after buying an additional 1,449 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 21,428 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $197,000 after buying an additional 1,075 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 44,953 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $453,000 after buying an additional 5,022 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

AGNC Investment Stock Down 1.1 %

AGNC Investment stock opened at $9.97 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.83 billion, a PE ratio of 10.28 and a beta of 1.47. The company’s 50-day moving average is $9.53 and its 200-day moving average is $9.89. AGNC Investment has a fifty-two week low of $8.92 and a fifty-two week high of $10.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.23 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.05). AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 21.92% and a net margin of 29.26%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment will post 1.63 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a jan 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a dividend yield of 15.5%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is presently 148.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on AGNC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut 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 report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AGNC Investment currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.50.

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).