AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Trading Up 1.6% - Time to Buy?

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) shot up 1.6% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $8.63 and last traded at $8.48. 15,630,626 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 14% from the average session volume of 18,239,131 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.35.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AGNC shares. StockNews.com raised AGNC Investment from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $11.00 price target on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus raised shares of AGNC Investment to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AGNC Investment has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $10.36.

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 moving average price is $9.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.72. The company has a market capitalization of $7.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.60 and a beta of 1.32.

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 analysts expect that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 EPS 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a yield of 17.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. AGNC Investment's payout ratio is 148.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AGNC Investment

In other AGNC Investment news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 3.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total value of $50,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 75,919 shares in the company, valued at $766,781.90. This trade represents a 6.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 worth $767,348,000 after purchasing an additional 10,316,999 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter worth approximately $87,269,000. PL Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 821.0% in the 4th 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. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the 4th quarter worth $39,840,000. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its stake in AGNC Investment by 18.0% in the first quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 16,996,741 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $162,828,000 after acquiring an additional 2,589,020 shares during the last quarter. 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).