AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Trading 0.7% Higher – Still a Buy?

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)’s stock price traded up 0.7% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $9.86 and last traded at $9.86. 8,824,001 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 50% from the average session volume of 17,697,279 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.79.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $11.00 price target on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Trading Up 2.5 %

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 company has a market capitalization of $8.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.00 and a beta of 1.47. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $9.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.89.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.05). AGNC Investment had a net margin of 42.19% and a return on equity of 23.41%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.95 EPS for the current year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a jan 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a yield of 15.5%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is currently 148.45%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AGNC. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its position in AGNC Investment by 200.5% in the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 14,446,725 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $151,113,000 after acquiring an additional 9,639,675 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in AGNC Investment by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,303,616 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $128,730,000 after acquiring an additional 242,640 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,662,954 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $80,392,000 after purchasing an additional 424,990 shares during the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp lifted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 7,274,167 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $76,088,000 after purchasing an additional 149,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in AGNC Investment by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,768,305 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $70,796,000 after buying an additional 162,152 shares during the period. 38.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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).