Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. Increases Position in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. grew its holdings in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) by 504.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 839,672 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 700,843 shares during the quarter. AGNC Investment accounts for 1.2% of Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. owned about 0.13% of AGNC Investment worth $8,237,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of AGNC Investment in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. CENTRAL TRUST Co purchased a new position in AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in AGNC Investment by 76.5% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,836 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096 shares during the last quarter. Carmichael Hill & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 66.8% during the third quarter. Carmichael Hill & Associates Inc. now owns 6,066 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 2,429 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 110.8% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 6,377 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 3,352 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

AGNC Investment Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AGNC traded down $0.09 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $9.15. 8,943,741 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,875,043. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.27. AGNC Investment Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $6.81 and a fifty-two week high of $10.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.26 and a quick ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $6.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.09 and a beta of 1.45.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.02. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 32.12% and a return on equity of 27.92%. The business had revenue of $642.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $568.38 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.70 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 2.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a apr 24 dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. This represents a dividend yield of 15.4%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is currently 158.24%.

Insider Activity

In other AGNC Investment news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.35, for a total value of $46,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 75,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $706,345.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on AGNC shares. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Compass Point started coverage on AGNC Investment in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $10.25 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $9.79.

AGNC Investment 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).