Short Interest in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Expands By 24.6%

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 58,040,000 shares, an increase of 24.6% from the March 15th total of 46,570,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 24,930,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.3 days. Currently, 6.6% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 18,259 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $168,000 after purchasing an additional 970 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in AGNC Investment by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 21,428 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $197,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075 shares during the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 18,505 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $170,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares during the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 34.8% in the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC grew its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 46,399 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AGNC. Argus raised AGNC Investment to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $8.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target 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. StockNews.com raised shares of AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 target price on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.36.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

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

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment will post 1.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a apr 25 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a yield of 17.7%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 148.45%.

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).