AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Shares Up 1% – Time to Buy?

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) shares were up 1% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $9.71 and last traded at $9.71. Approximately 5,849,235 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 65% from the average daily volume of 16,946,088 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.61.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com cut shares of AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, October 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AGNC Investment has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.64.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.90. The stock has a market cap of $8.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.69 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.23.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.04). AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 23.41% and a net margin of 42.19%. The firm had revenue of $756.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $219.50 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.65 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a jan 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a yield of 15.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C. lifted its stake in AGNC Investment by 87.6% during the fourth quarter. Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C. now owns 98,144 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $904,000 after purchasing an additional 45,815 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 67.7% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 30,317 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $279,000 after acquiring an additional 12,234 shares in the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 58.7% in the 4th quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 209,350 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,928,000 after acquiring an additional 77,439 shares during the last quarter. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC now owns 76,995 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $709,000 after purchasing an additional 3,735 shares during the period. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 413.8% in the 4th quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,853 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 7,130 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

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).