AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Price Target Cut to $8.50 by Analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) had its price target trimmed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $9.50 to $8.50 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on AGNC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 price target on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.36.

AGNC Investment Stock Up 0.5 %

AGNC Investment stock opened at $8.34 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $9.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.72. The firm has a market cap of $7.63 billion, a PE ratio of 8.60 and a beta of 1.32. AGNC Investment has a twelve month low of $7.85 and a twelve month high of $10.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.23.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.05). AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 21.92% and a net margin of 29.26%. On average, research analysts predict that AGNC Investment will post 1.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a apr 25 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a dividend yield of 17.7%. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is presently 148.45%.

Insider Activity at AGNC Investment

In other news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total transaction of $50,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 75,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $766,781.90. This represents a 6.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total value of $130,520.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 372,226 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,737,149.04. This trade represents a 3.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC raised its position in AGNC Investment by 4.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,552,969 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $16,242,000 after purchasing an additional 71,330 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,303,616 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $128,730,000 after purchasing an additional 242,640 shares during the period. Howard Financial Services LTD. raised its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 195.2% in the 4th quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 53,834 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $496,000 after buying an additional 35,598 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,349,657 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $67,690,000 after buying an additional 581,352 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in AGNC Investment by 35.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 584,370 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,060,000 after buying an additional 154,029 shares in the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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).