AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Trading 1.9% Higher – Time to Buy?

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) traded up 1.9% on Monday . The company traded as high as $9.57 and last traded at $9.58. 8,759,600 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 47% from the average session volume of 16,652,175 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.40.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on AGNC shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 target price on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AGNC Investment currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

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 market cap of $8.77 billion, a PE ratio of 9.87 and a beta of 1.50. The company’s 50 day moving average is $10.14 and its 200-day moving average is $9.91.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last announced its earnings results 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 return on equity of 21.92% and a net margin of 29.26%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at AGNC Investment

In other AGNC Investment news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $3,737,149.04. The trade was a 3.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total transaction of $50,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 75,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $766,781.90. This trade represents a 6.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 4.8% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted 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 valued at $128,730,000 after acquiring an additional 242,640 shares in the last quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. raised its holdings in AGNC Investment by 195.2% during the fourth quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 53,834 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $496,000 after purchasing an additional 35,598 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in AGNC Investment by 8.6% in the fourth 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 during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in AGNC Investment by 35.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 584,370 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,060,000 after purchasing an additional 154,029 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

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).