AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Stock Price Up 0.7% - Should You Buy?

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) traded up 0.7% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $8.62 and last traded at $8.50. 12,220,370 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 33% from the average session volume of 18,349,362 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.44.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AGNC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Argus raised AGNC Investment to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $11.00 target price on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com raised AGNC Investment from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $10.36.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.60 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $9.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.72.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) last announced 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 net margin of 29.26% and a return on equity of 21.92%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a apr 25 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 17.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. AGNC Investment's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 148.45%.

Insider Activity at AGNC Investment

In other AGNC Investment news, 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 372,226 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,737,149.04. This trade represents a 3.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total value of $50,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 75,919 shares in the company, valued at $766,781.90. This represents a 6.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 10,316,999 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 18.0% in the 1st quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 16,996,741 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $162,828,000 after acquiring an additional 2,589,020 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in AGNC Investment by 18.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,614,721 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $134,645,000 after buying an additional 2,311,105 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in AGNC Investment in the fourth quarter valued at $87,269,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 5.2% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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).