Russell Investments Group Ltd. Grows Stake in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) by 397.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 816,904 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 652,799 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.12% of AGNC Investment worth $8,015,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGNC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in AGNC Investment by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,347,540 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $541,361,000 after acquiring an additional 242,548 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in AGNC Investment by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 7,682,998 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $75,370,000 after buying an additional 395,796 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in AGNC Investment by 85.6% in the third quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 7,301,298 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $68,924,000 after buying an additional 3,367,112 shares during the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp grew its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 3.8% during the third quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 6,343,975 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $59,887,000 after acquiring an additional 230,265 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,540,115 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $52,299,000 after acquiring an additional 352,385 shares during the period. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AGNC opened at $9.52 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.30. AGNC Investment Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $6.81 and a fifty-two week high of $10.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a market cap of $6.62 billion, a PE ratio of 10.46 and a beta of 1.45.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $642.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $568.38 million. AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 27.92% and a net margin of 32.12%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.70 EPS. Analysts expect that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 2.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a apr 24 dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. This represents a yield of 15.4%. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is 158.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on AGNC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Compass Point started coverage on AGNC Investment in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $10.25 price objective for the company. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, April 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $9.79.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.32, for a total value of $32,620.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 309,973 shares in the company, valued at $2,888,948.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.32, for a total value of $32,620.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 309,973 shares in the company, valued at $2,888,948.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paul E. Mullings sold 5,400 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.40, for a total value of $50,760.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 111,827 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,051,173.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 15,900 shares of company stock worth $149,030. Insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

AGNC Investment 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).