AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Trading 1.1% Higher

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) shares shot up 1.1% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $9.39 and last traded at $9.34. 4,507,515 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 62% from the average session volume of 11,821,376 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.24.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on AGNC shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Compass Point initiated coverage on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $10.25 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Jonestrading decreased their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $9.79.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm has a market cap of $6.48 billion, a PE ratio of 10.25 and a beta of 1.45. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $9.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.26.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.02. AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 27.92% and a net margin of 32.12%. The company had revenue of $642.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $568.38 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 2.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a apr 24 dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. This represents a dividend yield of 15.4%. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is currently 158.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.35, for a total transaction of $46,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 75,545 shares in the company, valued at $706,345.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new stake in AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,593,000. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 103.2% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 185,721 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,753,000 after acquiring an additional 94,332 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in AGNC Investment by 4.7% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,752,044 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $16,539,000 after purchasing an additional 78,253 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 48.0% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 451,460 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,262,000 after purchasing an additional 146,406 shares during the period. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in AGNC Investment during the third quarter valued at $3,655,000. 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).