AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $10.36.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on AGNC shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus upgraded AGNC Investment to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com upgraded AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $8.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 23rd.

Insider Activity at AGNC Investment

In related news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the 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 sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the business’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 represents a 3.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 14.1% in 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. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 18.0% in the 1st quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 16,996,741 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $162,828,000 after buying an additional 2,589,020 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position 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 buying an additional 2,311,105 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter valued at about $87,269,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 5.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 424,990 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

AGNC stock opened at $8.34 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $9.74 and a 200-day moving average of $9.72. 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 company has a market cap of $7.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.60 and a beta of 1.32. AGNC Investment has a 12-month low of $7.85 and a 12-month high of $10.85.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 29.26% and a return on equity of 21.92%. As a group, equities analysts expect that AGNC Investment will post 1.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a yield of 17.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 148.45%.

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).