AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $10.36.

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AGNC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 price objective on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price 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.

Insider Activity

In other AGNC Investment news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total value of $130,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 372,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,737,149.04. This represents a 3.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total transaction of $50,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 75,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $766,781.90. The trade was a 6.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC lifted its position in AGNC Investment by 4.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,552,969 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $16,242,000 after purchasing an additional 71,330 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,303,616 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $128,730,000 after acquiring an additional 242,640 shares during the period. Howard Financial Services LTD. boosted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 195.2% during the 4th quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 53,834 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $496,000 after acquiring an additional 35,598 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,349,657 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $67,690,000 after acquiring an additional 581,352 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in AGNC Investment by 35.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 584,370 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,060,000 after acquiring an additional 154,029 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

AGNC stock opened at $8.30 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $9.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.60 billion, a PE ratio of 8.56 and a beta of 1.32. 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 has a one year low of $7.85 and a one year high of $10.85.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 EPS 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%. On average, analysts forecast that AGNC Investment will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a apr 25 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a yield of 17.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is currently 148.45%.

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).