StockNews.com Lowers AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) to Sell

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Compass Point boosted their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.25 to $11.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $10.25 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Maxim Group downgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AGNC Investment currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $10.33.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AGNC traded up $0.07 during trading on Thursday, reaching $10.37. 12,057,752 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,996,725. AGNC Investment has a 12 month low of $6.81 and a 12 month high of $10.85. The firm has a market cap of $7.54 billion, a PE ratio of 11.40 and a beta of 1.47. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $10.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.01). AGNC Investment had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 26.21%. The business had revenue of $695.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $643.29 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 52.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that AGNC Investment will post 2.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.07, for a total value of $50,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 298,182 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,002,692.74. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,366,808 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $621,628,000 after purchasing an additional 6,019,268 shares in the last quarter. GRS Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,509,000. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 522.4% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,437,698 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $14,229,000 after purchasing an additional 1,206,714 shares in the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp boosted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 16.2% during the 1st quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 6,870,571 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $68,019,000 after purchasing an additional 957,139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the 1st quarter valued at about $7,920,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.28% of the company's stock.

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).

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