Norges Bank Invests $87.27 Million in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Norges Bank bought a new stake in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 9,475,463 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $87,269,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 1.07% of AGNC Investment at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co bought a new position in AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter worth $228,000. Jackson Thornton Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the 4th quarter worth about $113,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 10,316,999 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in AGNC Investment by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 1,238,895 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,410,000 after acquiring an additional 131,954 shares during the period. Finally, Samalin Investment Counsel LLC lifted its position in AGNC Investment by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC now owns 61,600 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $567,000 after acquiring an additional 3,551 shares during the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at AGNC Investment

In other news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the 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 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the company’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 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. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on AGNC shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Argus upgraded AGNC Investment to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

AGNC Investment stock opened at $9.48 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $8.68 billion, a PE ratio of 9.77 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. AGNC Investment Corp. has a 12-month low of $8.92 and a 12-month high of $10.85. The business’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 announced 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%. As a group, analysts expect that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

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

AGNC Investment 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).