Traders Buy Large Volume of AGNC Investment Put Options (NASDAQ:AGNC)

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock traders acquired 32,382 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 16% compared to the typical daily volume of 27,856 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling at AGNC Investment

In other news, Director Paul E. Mullings sold 5,400 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.40, for a total transaction of $50,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 111,827 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,051,173.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Paul E. Mullings sold 5,400 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.40, for a total transaction of $50,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 111,827 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,051,173.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Bernice Bell sold 3,500 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.32, for a total value of $32,620.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 309,973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,888,948.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,900 shares of company stock valued at $149,030 in the last 90 days. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the first quarter worth approximately $38,000. Verity & Verity LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the first quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co acquired a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,000. 38.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

Shares of AGNC traded up $0.24 on Friday, reaching $10.39. 7,298,495 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,567,503. The firm has a market cap of $7.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.15 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.28 and a quick ratio of 0.28. AGNC Investment has a 12 month low of $6.81 and a 12 month high of $10.64. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $9.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.64.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $642.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $568.38 million. AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 27.14% and a net margin of 32.12%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.70 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that AGNC Investment will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a jul 24 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 31st. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 158.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AGNC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Jonestrading reduced their target price on AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, June 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $10.50 target price for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $9.94.

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).