AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Shares Down 2% – Here’s Why

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) traded down 2% on Friday . The company traded as low as $9.54 and last traded at $9.57. 9,647,835 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 41% from the average session volume of 16,452,458 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.76.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AGNC. Argus upgraded AGNC Investment to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 price target on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Stock Down 2.4 %

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $10.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a market cap of $8.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.82 and a beta of 1.50.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its 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 net margin of 29.26% and a return on equity of 21.92%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The business 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. This represents a yield of 14.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is 148.45%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AGNC. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 2.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,768,305 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $70,796,000 after acquiring an additional 162,152 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance bought a new stake in AGNC Investment during the third quarter worth $137,000. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its stake in AGNC Investment by 193.2% during the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 40,091 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $419,000 after acquiring an additional 26,418 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 7.4% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 197,489 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,066,000 after purchasing an additional 13,578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in AGNC Investment by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 103,556 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,083,000 after purchasing an additional 1,999 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).