AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Trading 0.9% Higher After Dividend Announcement

Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) traded up 0.9% on Friday after the company announced a dividend. The company traded as high as $10.45 and last traded at $10.42. 6,221,669 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 67% from the average session volume of 18,968,010 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.32.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 148.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on AGNC shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com cut AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, October 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $11.00 price target on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $9.62 and a 200-day moving average of $9.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.73 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released 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 return on equity of 21.92% and a net margin of 29.26%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AGNC Investment news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total transaction of $130,520.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 372,226 shares in the company, valued at $3,737,149.04. This represents a 3.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total value of $50,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 75,919 shares in the company, valued at $766,781.90. The trade was a 6.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new stake in AGNC Investment during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in AGNC Investment during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 112.7% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 3,458 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,832 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 315.9% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 2,966 shares during the period. 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).