AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $10.50.

Several research analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 target price on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus raised AGNC Investment to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total value of $50,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 75,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $766,781.90. This trade represents a 6.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total value of $130,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 372,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,737,149.04. The trade was a 3.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AGNC. Creative Planning boosted its stake in AGNC Investment by 11.7% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 189,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,984,000 after acquiring an additional 19,965 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in AGNC Investment by 315.9% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 2,966 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in AGNC Investment by 3.3% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,222,595 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,788,000 after acquiring an additional 38,690 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 38.4% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 11,562 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $121,000 after buying an additional 3,207 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in AGNC Investment by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 183,835 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,923,000 after buying an additional 22,591 shares in the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AGNC Investment Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of AGNC opened at $10.54 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. AGNC Investment has a twelve month low of $8.92 and a twelve month high of $10.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.86 and a beta of 1.48.

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

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a feb 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a yield of 13.8%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 148.46%.

AGNC Investment Company 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).