AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Short Interest Update

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 51,530,000 shares, an increase of 22.9% from the December 15th total of 41,930,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 18,600,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in AGNC Investment in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of AGNC Investment in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,255 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 315.9% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 2,966 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP increased its holdings in AGNC Investment by 75.6% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 5,285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 2,275 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

AGNC Investment Trading Up 0.6 %

AGNC opened at $9.61 on Friday. AGNC Investment has a 1-year low of $8.92 and a 1-year high of $10.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.51 billion, a PE ratio of 6.67 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $9.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.90.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.43 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $219.50 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a jan 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a dividend yield of 15.5%. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on AGNC. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded AGNC Investment from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $10.00 to $12.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.44.

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).