AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) saw a large decrease in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 41,250,000 shares, a decrease of 8.3% from the August 31st total of 45,000,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 15,390,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.7 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $10.50 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of AGNC Investment from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $10.00 to $12.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Compass Point raised their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.25 to $11.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Maxim Group downgraded AGNC Investment from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.33.

Insider Transactions at AGNC Investment

In related news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 5,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.07, for a total value of $50,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 298,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,002,692.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in AGNC Investment in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $717,000. Norden Group LLC boosted its stake in AGNC Investment by 985.9% during the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 185,562 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,837,000 after acquiring an additional 168,473 shares in the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC boosted its stake in AGNC Investment by 53.0% during the first quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 23,213 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $230,000 after acquiring an additional 8,039 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in AGNC Investment by 339.7% in the fourth quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 133,230 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,323,000 after purchasing an additional 102,933 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in AGNC Investment by 3.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,735,466 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $650,781,000 after purchasing an additional 2,368,658 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

Shares of AGNC Investment stock opened at $10.46 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $7.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.49 and a beta of 1.47. The company’s fifty day moving average is $10.21 and its 200 day moving average is $9.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. AGNC Investment has a twelve month low of $6.81 and a twelve month high of $10.85.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.01). AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 26.21% and a net margin of 16.15%. The company had revenue of $695.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $643.29 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.67 earnings per share. AGNC Investment’s revenue was up 52.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that AGNC Investment will post 2.11 EPS for the current year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.77%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 158.24%.

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).