AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Shares Up 0.7%

Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) shot up 0.7% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $9.11 and last traded at $9.10. 2,075,236 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 11,606,165 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.04.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on AGNC. Jonestrading initiated coverage on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $10.75 target price for the company. Compass Point initiated coverage on AGNC Investment in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $10.25 target price on the stock. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on AGNC Investment from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $9.93.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.26 and a quick ratio of 0.26. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $9.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.36 billion, a PE ratio of 915.92 and a beta of 1.45.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $640.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $570.42 million. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 28.02%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.74 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a apr 24 dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a yield of 15.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14,414.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AGNC Investment

In other AGNC Investment news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.85, for a total value of $98,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 287,282 shares in the company, valued at $2,829,727.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGNC. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter worth about $38,593,000. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in AGNC Investment by 103.2% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 185,721 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,753,000 after purchasing an additional 94,332 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,752,044 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $16,539,000 after purchasing an additional 78,253 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 48.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 451,460 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,262,000 after purchasing an additional 146,406 shares during the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in AGNC Investment during the 3rd quarter valued at $3,655,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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).