AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Shares Up 1.9% – Here’s Why

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)’s share price shot up 1.9% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $9.57 and last traded at $9.58. 8,759,600 shares were traded during 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 equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Argus raised shares of AGNC Investment to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered 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, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $11.00 target price on shares of AGNC Investment 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Stock Up 1.9 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $8.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.87 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $10.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.91.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, research analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AGNC Investment news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total value of $50,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 75,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $766,781.90. This represents a 6.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of AGNC Investment 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 directly owns 372,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,737,149.04. This trade represents a 3.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in AGNC Investment by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 83,316,872 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $767,348,000 after purchasing an additional 10,316,999 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,614,721 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $134,645,000 after purchasing an additional 2,311,105 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $87,269,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in AGNC Investment by 5.2% during the fourth 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. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew 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 valued at $67,690,000 after acquiring an additional 581,352 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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).