AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Shares Up 1.8% After Dividend Announcement

Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) were up 1.8% on Friday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock traded as high as $10.19 and last traded at $10.22. Approximately 5,061,734 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 15,943,811 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.04.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 14.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. AGNC Investment's payout ratio is 148.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AGNC shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $11.00 price objective on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price 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, StockNews.com raised shares of AGNC Investment from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AGNC Investment has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $10.50.

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AGNC Investment Price Performance

The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $9.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.93. The firm has a market cap of $9.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.56 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.23.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 transaction of $50,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 75,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $766,781.90. This represents a 6.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the 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 $3,737,149.04. This trade represents a 3.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGNC. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its position in 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 worth $151,113,000 after purchasing an additional 9,639,675 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter worth about $87,269,000. PL Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 4,871,584 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter worth about $39,840,000. 38.28% of the stock is 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).