AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Stock Price Up 1.4% Following Dividend Announcement

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) rose 1.4% on Thursday after the company announced a dividend. The stock traded as high as $9.57 and last traded at $9.51. Approximately 4,351,019 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 69% from the average daily volume of 13,943,930 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.38.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AGNC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. StockNews.com cut AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, October 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised AGNC Investment from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $10.00 to $12.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. Compass Point boosted their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.25 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.33.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average is $10.18 and its 200-day moving average is $9.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.43 billion, a PE ratio of 6.60 and a beta of 1.47.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts’ expectations of $219.50 million. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 42.19% and a return on equity of 24.40%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in AGNC Investment by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,735,466 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $650,781,000 after acquiring an additional 2,368,658 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its stake in AGNC Investment by 200.5% during the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 14,446,725 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $151,113,000 after purchasing an additional 9,639,675 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 2.4% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,237,964 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $86,169,000 after purchasing an additional 189,444 shares during the period. Equity Investment Corp grew its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 2.1% in the third quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 7,274,167 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $76,088,000 after purchasing an additional 149,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in AGNC Investment by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,316,724 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $50,722,000 after buying an additional 54,153 shares during the period. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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).