AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Shares Sold by Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lowered its position in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) by 44.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,600 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 19,200 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in AGNC Investment were worth $217,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 83,316,872 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $767,348,000 after buying an additional 10,316,999 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in AGNC Investment in the fourth quarter worth $87,269,000. PL Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in AGNC Investment by 821.0% in the fourth quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,464,956 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $50,332,000 after acquiring an additional 4,871,584 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in AGNC Investment in the fourth quarter valued at $39,840,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 115.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,912,694 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $20,007,000 after purchasing an additional 1,023,275 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total transaction of $130,520.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 372,226 shares in the company, valued at $3,737,149.04. This represents a 3.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the business’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 transaction of $50,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 75,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $766,781.90. The trade was a 6.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

AGNC Investment Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AGNC opened at $9.34 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.63 and a beta of 1.50. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.90. AGNC Investment Corp. has a 52-week low of $8.92 and a 52-week high of $10.85. 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 (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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a mar 25 dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a yield of 14.1%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 148.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on AGNC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com raised AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AGNC Investment currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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).