AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Rating Increased to Hold at Argus

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Argus to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 19th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AGNC Investment has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

Shares of AGNC Investment stock opened at $10.11 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.42 and a beta of 1.48. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.88. 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 has a 12 month low of $8.92 and a 12 month high of $10.85.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 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, equities analysts forecast that AGNC Investment will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at AGNC Investment

In other AGNC Investment news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 372,226 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,737,149.04. This represents a 3.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.43% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AGNC. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its position in AGNC Investment by 200.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 14,446,725 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $151,113,000 after purchasing an additional 9,639,675 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 2.0% during 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 raised its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,662,954 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $80,392,000 after buying an additional 424,990 shares during the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp boosted its position in AGNC Investment by 2.1% during the third quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 7,274,167 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $76,088,000 after acquiring an additional 149,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in AGNC Investment by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,768,305 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $70,796,000 after acquiring an additional 162,152 shares during the period. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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).