AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Sets New 12-Month Low – Here’s Why

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) hit a new 52-week low on Monday . The company traded as low as $8.50 and last traded at $8.58, with a volume of 8429756 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.98.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AGNC has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 price objective on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus raised AGNC Investment to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.23 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The company has a fifty day moving average of $10.11 and a 200 day moving average of $9.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.05 and a beta of 1.32.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.05). AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 21.92% and a net margin of 29.26%. Sell-side analysts predict that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a mar 25 dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a dividend yield of 14.1%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is 148.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 75,919 shares in the company, valued at $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 available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total transaction of $130,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in AGNC Investment by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 83,316,872 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $767,348,000 after purchasing an additional 10,316,999 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in AGNC Investment by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,614,721 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $134,645,000 after acquiring an additional 2,311,105 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter valued at about $87,269,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in AGNC Investment by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,662,954 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $80,392,000 after purchasing an additional 424,990 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 8.6% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 581,352 shares in the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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).