Investors Buy Large Volume of Put Options on AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC)

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Monday. Investors bought 61,454 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 68% compared to the typical volume of 36,588 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on AGNC shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 price target on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective 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, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total transaction of $50,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 75,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $766,781.90. The trade was a 6.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total transaction of $130,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 372,226 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,737,149.04. The trade was a 3.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in AGNC Investment during the third quarter worth about $32,000. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in AGNC Investment by 112.7% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 3,458 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 1,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spire Wealth Management raised its stake in AGNC Investment by 94.5% in the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 4,059 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 1,972 shares during the period. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AGNC Investment Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of AGNC stock opened at $10.39 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $10.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.93. AGNC Investment has a 1 year low of $8.92 and a 1 year high of $10.85. 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 has a market capitalization of $9.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.71 and a beta of 1.50.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 predict that AGNC Investment will post 1.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a mar 25 dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.12 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 14.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is presently 148.45%.

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).