AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Shares Up 0.8% Following Dividend Announcement

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) shares shot up 0.8% during trading on Thursday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock traded as high as $10.29 and last traded at $10.27. 6,028,772 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 19,000,322 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.18.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 13.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 148.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AGNC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, October 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note 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 note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Argus raised shares of AGNC Investment to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AGNC Investment currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $9.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 1.48. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.89. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.05). AGNC Investment had a net margin of 29.26% and a return on equity of 21.92%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at AGNC Investment

In other news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total value of $130,520.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 372,226 shares in the company, valued at $3,737,149.04. The trade was a 3.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 represents a 6.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new position in AGNC Investment in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,234,000. Talon Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of AGNC Investment during the 4th quarter valued at $816,000. Utah Retirement Systems lifted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 134,875 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,242,000 after buying an additional 12,800 shares during the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 73.8% during the 4th quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 209,393 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,929,000 after buying an additional 88,890 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 24.9% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,378,470 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $58,746,000 after buying an additional 1,273,565 shares during the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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).