AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Shares Up 1.9% - Should You Buy?

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) shares rose 1.9% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $9.57 and last traded at $9.58. Approximately 8,759,600 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 47% from the average daily volume of 16,652,175 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.40.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on AGNC. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $11.00 price target on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective 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. Argus raised AGNC Investment to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised AGNC Investment from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, AGNC Investment presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $10.50.

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AGNC Investment Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.23. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $10.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.90. The stock has a market cap of $8.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.63 and a beta of 1.50.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share 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%. Analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a dividend yield of 14.1%. AGNC Investment's payout ratio is 148.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total transaction of $50,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 75,919 shares of the company's stock, valued at $766,781.90. This trade represents a 6.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total value of $130,520.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 372,226 shares in the company, valued at $3,737,149.04. This represents a 3.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AGNC. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in AGNC Investment by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 18,259 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $168,000 after purchasing an additional 970 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 21,428 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $197,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075 shares during the period. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 18,505 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $170,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares during the period. CoreCap Advisors LLC increased its stake in AGNC Investment by 34.8% in the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 1,229 shares during the period. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC increased its stake in AGNC Investment by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 46,399 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 1,303 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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).