AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $9.79.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Jonestrading dropped their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 12th.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AGNC opened at $9.33 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $9.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a market cap of $6.48 billion, a PE ratio of 10.25 and a beta of 1.45. AGNC Investment has a 52-week low of $6.81 and a 52-week high of $10.64.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $642.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $568.38 million. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 32.12% and a return on equity of 27.92%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.70 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment will post 2.18 EPS for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a apr 24 dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a yield of 15.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is currently 158.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AGNC Investment

In other AGNC Investment news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.35, for a total transaction of $46,750.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 75,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $706,345.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,366,808 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $621,628,000 after buying an additional 6,019,268 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 4.3% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,015,707 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $79,355,000 after buying an additional 332,709 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 7,380,614 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $72,404,000 after buying an additional 79,316 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $69,215,000. Finally, Equity Investment Corp raised its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 3.8% during the third quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 6,343,975 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $59,887,000 after buying an additional 230,265 shares during the last quarter. 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).