Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Makes New $1.46 Million Investment in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund purchased a new position in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 158,825 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $1,463,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 21,428 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $197,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075 shares during the period. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 18,505 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $170,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares during the period. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,947 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $135,000 after acquiring an additional 1,176 shares during the period. Hollencrest Capital Management boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 222,450 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,327,000 after acquiring an additional 1,290 shares during the period. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 34,618 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $362,000 after acquiring an additional 1,391 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AGNC Investment news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 372,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,737,149.04. This trade represents a 3.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 $766,781.90. This represents a 6.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

Shares of AGNC opened at $10.43 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $9.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.92. AGNC Investment Corp. has a 12-month low of $8.92 and a 12-month high of $10.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.54 billion, a PE ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.23 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.05). AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 21.92% and a net margin of 29.26%. Equities research analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 EPS for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a feb 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a yield of 13.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is presently 148.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on AGNC. Argus upgraded AGNC Investment to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 target price on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced 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. StockNews.com upgraded AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.50.

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).