Brokerages Set AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Target Price at $10.44

Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $10.44.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded AGNC Investment from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $10.00 to $12.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, StockNews.com cut AGNC Investment from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, October 19th.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

AGNC Investment stock traded up $0.07 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $9.28. The company had a trading volume of 19,415,268 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,317,139. 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 company has a market capitalization of $8.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.44 and a beta of 1.47. AGNC Investment has a 1 year low of $8.92 and a 1 year high of $10.85. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $9.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.93.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.04). AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 23.41% and a net margin of 42.19%. The business had revenue of $756.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $219.50 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.65 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that AGNC Investment will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a dec 24 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a yield of 15.1%. AGNC Investment's dividend payout ratio is presently 100.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter worth about $386,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in AGNC Investment by 35.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 584,370 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $6,060,000 after buying an additional 154,029 shares during the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp acquired a new stake in AGNC Investment during the third quarter worth about $142,000. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 3.3% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 96,081 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,005,000 after acquiring an additional 3,075 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in AGNC Investment by 2.0% in 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 in the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by 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).