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

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the eleven analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $11.0313.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AGNC. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Monday, December 29th. BTIG Research downgraded AGNC Investment from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 27th. Jones Trading cut AGNC Investment from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AGNC Investment news, EVP Bernice Bell sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.14, for a total value of $303,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 491,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,969,577.92. This trade represents a 4.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Kenneth L. Pollack sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.11, for a total value of $605,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 552,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,688,316.67. The trade was a 8.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 775,000 shares of company stock valued at $9,246,000. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in AGNC Investment by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 97,745,127 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,047,828,000 after acquiring an additional 1,304,782 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 10.9% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,995,789 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $229,990,000 after purchasing an additional 2,461,255 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 12.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,693,449 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $155,383,000 after purchasing an additional 1,906,785 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $109,814,000. Finally, Equity Investment Corp boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 9,554,836 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $93,542,000 after buying an additional 164,386 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

AGNC Investment Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of AGNC Investment stock opened at $11.40 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.33. AGNC Investment has a 12-month low of $7.85 and a 12-month high of $12.19. The company has a market capitalization of $12.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.14 and a beta of 1.37.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $995.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $354.75 million. AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 19.13% and a net margin of 47.40%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 30th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.6%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 102.86%.

AGNC Investment Company Profile

AGNC Investment Corp. is a self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT) that primarily acquires and manages a portfolio of residential mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by U.S. government-sponsored enterprises such as Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The company employs a leveraged total return strategy, borrowing against its securities to enhance income potential while using interest rate hedges to manage risk. AGNC’s investment objective is to generate attractive monthly dividends and long-term capital appreciation for its shareholders.

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, AGNC focuses exclusively on U.S.