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

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders acquired 52,294 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 38% compared to the typical volume of 37,759 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AGNC. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in AGNC Investment in the second quarter valued at approximately $157,000. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 4.7% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 39,968 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $390,000 after purchasing an additional 1,777 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AGNC Investment during the second quarter worth $163,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 11.4% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 183,911 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,755,000 after purchasing an additional 18,864 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC bought a new position in shares of AGNC Investment during the second quarter worth $668,000. 38.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, October 19th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AGNC Investment currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

Shares of AGNC Investment stock opened at $9.97 on Friday. AGNC Investment has a fifty-two week low of $8.92 and a fifty-two week high of $10.85. The firm has a market cap of $8.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.28 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.23 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.89.

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%. Sell-side analysts predict that AGNC Investment will post 1.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

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

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).