AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Raised to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on AGNC. Maxim Group cut AGNC Investment from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. They set a buy rating and a $10.50 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $10.25 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $10.33.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

Shares of AGNC stock opened at $10.49 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $10.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.82. The stock has a market cap of $7.63 billion, a PE ratio of 11.53 and a beta of 1.47. AGNC Investment has a 1 year low of $6.81 and a 1 year high of $10.85.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.01). AGNC Investment had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 26.21%. The business had revenue of $695.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $643.29 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.67 EPS. AGNC Investment’s revenue for the quarter was up 52.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that AGNC Investment will post 2.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 13.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is currently 158.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AGNC Investment

In other AGNC Investment news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.07, for a total transaction of $50,350.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 298,182 shares in the company, valued at $3,002,692.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 3.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,735,466 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $650,781,000 after purchasing an additional 2,368,658 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in AGNC Investment by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,048,520 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $76,783,000 after buying an additional 32,813 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in AGNC Investment by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 7,380,614 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $72,404,000 after buying an additional 79,316 shares in the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp grew its holdings in AGNC Investment by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 7,124,392 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $67,967,000 after buying an additional 253,821 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter worth approximately $69,215,000. 38.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About AGNC Investment

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).