Van ECK Associates Corp Boosts Stake in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC - Free Report) by 34.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,427,978 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 870,856 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp owned 0.47% of AGNC Investment worth $34,074,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the third quarter valued at approximately $17,463,000. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 522.4% in the first 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. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in AGNC Investment by 945.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,072,039 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $102,489,000 after purchasing an additional 969,475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Equity Investment Corp lifted its holdings in 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 worth $68,019,000 after buying an additional 957,139 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.28% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Maxim Group downgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of AGNC Investment from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $10.00 to $12.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $10.25 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. One equities 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $10.33.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

Shares of AGNC stock traded up $0.17 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $9.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 22,009,881 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,880,419. The company has a market cap of $7.45 billion, a PE ratio of 6.49 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The business has a fifty day moving average of $10.21 and a 200-day moving average of $9.95. AGNC Investment Corp. has a 52 week low of $8.20 and a 52 week high of $10.85.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.04). AGNC Investment had a net margin of 42.19% and a return on equity of 24.40%. The business had revenue of $756.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $219.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.65 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a oct 24 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a yield of 14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. AGNC Investment's payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AGNC Investment

In other news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.07, for a total value of $50,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 298,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,002,692.74. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.43% 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).