AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Trading Up 0.9% Following Dividend Announcement

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report)'s share price shot up 0.9% during mid-day trading on Friday following a dividend announcement from the company. The company traded as high as $10.45 and last traded at $10.42. 6,221,669 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 67% from the average session volume of 18,968,010 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.32.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a dividend yield of 13.8%. AGNC Investment's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 148.46%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AGNC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Argus raised shares of AGNC Investment to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $11.00 price objective on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $9.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 1.48. The business's 50 day moving average price is $9.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.23 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

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

Insider Activity

In other AGNC Investment news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total value of $130,520.00. Following the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 75,919 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $766,781.90. This trade represents a 6.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 83,316,872 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $767,348,000 after acquiring an additional 10,316,999 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 9,639,675 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in AGNC Investment during the 4th quarter worth approximately $87,269,000. PL Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 821.0% in the fourth quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,464,956 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $50,332,000 after buying an additional 4,871,584 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter valued at $39,840,000. 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).