AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Stock Price Up 0.8% - Here's Why

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) was up 0.8% on Friday . The company traded as high as $10.56 and last traded at $10.54. Approximately 1,787,407 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 12,921,088 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.46.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on AGNC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $10.25 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Compass Point upped their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.25 to $11.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Maxim Group downgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $10.33.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $10.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.92. The company has a market capitalization of $7.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.65 and a beta of 1.47.

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 (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $695.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $643.29 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.67 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 52.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 2.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a oct 24 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a yield of 14%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. AGNC Investment's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 158.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AGNC Investment

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 3.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,735,466 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $650,781,000 after buying an additional 2,368,658 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 0.4% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,048,520 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $76,783,000 after buying an additional 32,813 shares during the period. Equity Investment Corp lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 3.7% in the second quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 7,124,392 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $67,967,000 after buying an additional 253,821 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 1.0% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,316,724 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $50,722,000 after buying an additional 54,153 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 6.4% in the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 4,807,050 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $45,860,000 after buying an additional 290,720 shares during the period. 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).