AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Short Interest Up 10.7% in October

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) saw a significant increase in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 50,470,000 shares, an increase of 10.7% from the October 15th total of 45,600,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 17,450,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AGNC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. StockNews.com cut AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised AGNC Investment from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $10.00 to $12.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Compass Point lifted their price target on AGNC Investment from $10.25 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Maxim Group downgraded AGNC Investment from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.33.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

AGNC stock opened at $9.58 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $10.09 and a 200-day moving average of $9.95. The company has a market cap of $8.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.65 and a beta of 1.47. 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 12-month low of $8.57 and a 12-month high of $10.85.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 42.19% and a return on equity of 23.41%. The firm had revenue of $756.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $219.50 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.65 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that AGNC Investment will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a nov 24 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a dividend yield of 14.9%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 200.5% during the 3rd 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. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in AGNC Investment by 314.8% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 3,842,814 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $40,196,000 after purchasing an additional 2,916,345 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in AGNC Investment by 3.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,735,466 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $650,781,000 after buying an additional 2,368,658 shares during the period. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in AGNC Investment in the 3rd quarter worth about $17,463,000. Finally, Boston Partners grew its holdings in AGNC Investment by 522.4% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,437,698 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $14,229,000 after buying an additional 1,206,714 shares during the period. 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).