Vanguard Group Inc. Increases Holdings in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) by 14.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 83,316,872 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 10,316,999 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.09% of AGNC Investment worth $767,348,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 2.0% in 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 buying an additional 242,640 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in AGNC Investment by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,662,954 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $80,392,000 after purchasing an additional 424,990 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in AGNC Investment by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,349,657 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $67,690,000 after purchasing an additional 581,352 shares in the last quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 821.0% in the 4th quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,464,956 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $50,332,000 after purchasing an additional 4,871,584 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,870,678 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $44,859,000 after purchasing an additional 575,292 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

AGNC Investment Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ AGNC opened at $9.52 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.81 and a beta of 1.50. AGNC Investment Corp. has a one year low of $8.92 and a one year high of $10.85. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.91. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.05). AGNC Investment had a net margin of 29.26% and a return on equity of 21.92%. As a group, analysts expect that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a mar 25 dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 14.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 148.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on AGNC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $11.00 price target on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.50.

Insider Activity at AGNC Investment

In other news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total transaction of $130,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 372,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,737,149.04. This represents a 3.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total transaction of $50,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 75,919 shares in the company, valued at $766,781.90. This represents a 6.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AGNC Investment 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).