AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Shares Up 1.8% – Still a Buy?

Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) shot up 1.8% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $10.05 and last traded at $10.01. 10,420,001 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 43% from the average session volume of 18,138,916 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.83.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, October 19th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $11.00 target price on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.23 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market cap of $8.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.28 and a beta of 1.47.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.05). AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 21.92% and a net margin of 29.26%. On average, equities analysts expect that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a jan 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a yield of 15.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is presently 148.46%.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in AGNC Investment during the 2nd quarter valued at about $157,000. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 4.7% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 39,968 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $390,000 after purchasing an additional 1,777 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AGNC Investment in the second quarter worth approximately $163,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 11.4% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 183,911 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,755,000 after buying an additional 18,864 shares during the period. Finally, Algert Global LLC bought a new stake in AGNC Investment during the 2nd quarter valued at $668,000. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AGNC Investment Company Profile

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).