AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Trading Up 0.2% – Still a Buy?

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)’s stock price shot up 0.2% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $9.47 and last traded at $9.47. 10,784,664 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 24% from the average session volume of 14,222,621 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.45.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on AGNC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded AGNC Investment from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $10.00 to $12.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.44.

AGNC Investment Stock Up 0.2 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.39 billion, a PE ratio of 6.58 and a beta of 1.47. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.95.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.04). AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 23.41% and a net margin of 42.19%. The business had revenue of $756.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $219.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a dec 24 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 15.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AGNC. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in AGNC Investment during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in AGNC Investment during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of AGNC Investment in the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 52.2% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,661 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in AGNC Investment by 315.9% in the 3rd 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 in 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).