AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Trading 0.1% Higher – Time to Buy?

Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) were up 0.1% on Friday . The company traded as high as $9.68 and last traded at $9.65. 3,467,350 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 14,072,521 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.64.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on AGNC shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of AGNC Investment from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $10.00 to $12.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. StockNews.com downgraded AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 19th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.33.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $8.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.70 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $9.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.97.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.04). AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 23.41% and a net margin of 42.19%. The firm had revenue of $756.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $219.50 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.65 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a nov 24 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a yield of 14.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in AGNC Investment by 35.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 584,370 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,060,000 after purchasing an additional 154,029 shares during the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of AGNC Investment during the third quarter worth $142,000. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 96,081 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,005,000 after acquiring an additional 3,075 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,303,616 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $128,730,000 after acquiring an additional 242,640 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,552,969 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $16,242,000 after acquiring an additional 71,330 shares in the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).