AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Trading Down 2.2% – Here’s Why

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)’s share price dropped 2.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $9.24 and last traded at $9.27. Approximately 10,437,170 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 38% from the average daily volume of 16,850,893 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.48.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on AGNC. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $11.00 target price on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Stock Down 1.5 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a market capitalization of $8.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.63 and a beta of 1.50. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $10.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.90.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 29.26% and a return on equity of 21.92%. Equities research analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 EPS for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a mar 25 dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a yield of 14.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total value of $50,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 75,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $766,781.90. This trade represents a 6.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total value of $130,520.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 372,226 shares in the company, valued at $3,737,149.04. The trade was a 3.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 83,316,872 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $767,348,000 after purchasing an additional 10,316,999 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in AGNC Investment by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,614,721 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $134,645,000 after acquiring an additional 2,311,105 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter worth approximately $87,269,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 424,990 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 8.6% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 581,352 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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).