AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the ten research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $10.50.

AGNC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Argus upgraded AGNC Investment to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $11.00 price objective on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped 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 report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th.

AGNC Investment Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ AGNC traded down $0.05 during trading on Friday, hitting $10.49. 24,653,350 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,781,752. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.81 and a beta of 1.48. The business's fifty day moving average is $9.74 and its 200 day moving average is $9.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.23. AGNC Investment has a fifty-two week low of $8.92 and a fifty-two week high of $10.85.

Remove Ads

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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%. Equities research analysts predict that AGNC Investment will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a feb 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a yield of 13.8%. AGNC Investment's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 148.46%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 75,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $766,781.90. This represents a 6.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total transaction of $130,520.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 372,226 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,737,149.04. This trade represents a 3.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AGNC. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 83,316,872 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $767,348,000 after buying an additional 10,316,999 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in AGNC Investment by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,614,721 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $134,645,000 after acquiring an additional 2,311,105 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its stake in AGNC Investment by 200.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 14,446,725 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $151,113,000 after acquiring an additional 9,639,675 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter valued at about $87,269,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in AGNC Investment by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,662,954 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $80,392,000 after purchasing an additional 424,990 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.28% of the company's stock.

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).