AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Shares Down 0.6% – Here’s Why

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)’s share price was down 0.6% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $10.20 and last traded at $10.23. Approximately 3,714,379 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 16,078,512 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.29.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AGNC shares. 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 report on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $11.00 price objective on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus upgraded shares of AGNC Investment to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $9.35 billion, a PE ratio of 10.53 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.23. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.93.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its earnings results 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%. As a group, equities analysts predict that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total transaction of $50,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 75,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $766,781.90. This represents a 6.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total transaction of $130,520.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 372,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,737,149.04. This represents a 3.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AGNC. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in AGNC Investment by 14.1% during the 4th 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. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in AGNC Investment during the 4th quarter worth approximately $87,269,000. PL Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in AGNC Investment by 821.0% during the 4th quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,464,956 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $50,332,000 after purchasing an additional 4,871,584 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in AGNC Investment during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,840,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

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).