AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Trading Up 0.1% – Should You Buy?

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) rose 0.1% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $8.46 and last traded at $8.42. Approximately 6,959,256 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 62% from the average daily volume of 18,424,338 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.41.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on AGNC. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com raised AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Argus upgraded AGNC Investment to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $11.00 price target on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AGNC Investment presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.36.

AGNC Investment Trading Down 1.7 %

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market cap of $7.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.53 and a beta of 1.32.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its quarterly earnings results 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, sell-side analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a apr 25 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 17.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is 148.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $766,781.90. The trade was a 6.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $3,737,149.04. This trade represents a 3.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC acquired a new position in AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Financial Life Planners bought a new position in AGNC Investment in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 112.7% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 3,458 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,832 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management increased its holdings in AGNC Investment by 94.5% during the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 4,059 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 1,972 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,229 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 38.28% 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).