Vanguard Group Inc. Has $821.77 Million Holdings in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) by 3.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 85,779,209 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 2,462,337 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 9.37% of AGNC Investment worth $821,765,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AGNC. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 364,587 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,358,000 after buying an additional 7,176 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 74.3% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 32,685 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $313,000 after buying an additional 13,934 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,248,375 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $20,708,000 after buying an additional 16,266 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC lifted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 46,399 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment in the fourth quarter worth $39,840,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AGNC. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $8.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Jones Trading reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $9.50 price target on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $8.50 to $9.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $9.58.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

NASDAQ:AGNC opened at $9.33 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.33 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $9.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.44. AGNC Investment Corp. has a one year low of $7.85 and a one year high of $10.85. The company has a market cap of $9.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.44 and a beta of 1.28.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $830.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $447.37 million. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 11.50% and a return on equity of 19.32%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 15.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is presently 423.53%.

Insider Transactions at AGNC Investment

In other AGNC Investment news, Director Paul E. Mullings sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.61, for a total transaction of $105,710.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 128,511 shares in the company, valued at $1,234,990.71. This represents a 7.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John D. Fisk sold 20,278 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.65, for a total transaction of $195,682.70. Following the sale, the director owned 112,685 shares in the company, valued at $1,087,410.25. The trade was a 15.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.42% 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).