AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Trading Up 0.2% – Here’s Why

Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) were up 0.2% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $9.75 and last traded at $9.75. Approximately 3,800,027 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 16,823,324 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.73.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com cut AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 19th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AGNC Investment currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.64.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

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 firm’s fifty day moving average price is $9.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.57 billion, a PE ratio of 6.72 and a beta of 1.47.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $756.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $219.50 million. AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 23.41% and a net margin of 42.19%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a jan 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a yield of 15.5%. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AGNC Investment

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AGNC. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 2.3% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,406,042 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $13,414,000 after buying an additional 31,345 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 24.2% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 39,609 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $378,000 after purchasing an additional 7,714 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in AGNC Investment during the 2nd quarter valued at about $157,000. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 668,114 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,374,000 after buying an additional 17,240 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 333.3% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,116 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 6,243 shares during the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).