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

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)’s stock price was up 0.1% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $9.43 and last traded at $9.39. Approximately 3,542,889 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 14,194,306 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.38.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AGNC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, October 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of AGNC Investment from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $10.00 to $12.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.44.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.47 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $756.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $219.50 million. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 42.19% and a return on equity of 23.41%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.65 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGNC. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 8.4% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,435,422 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $23,234,000 after buying an additional 187,949 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors acquired a new stake in AGNC Investment during the 2nd quarter worth about $271,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 14.0% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 148,157 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,413,000 after purchasing an additional 18,205 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 23.4% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 8,355 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 1,582 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 12.6% during the 2nd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 102,564 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $978,000 after purchasing an additional 11,473 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

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).