AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Lifted to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on AGNC. Maxim Group downgraded AGNC Investment from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. JMP Securities reiterated a market perform rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, June 6th. They set a buy rating and a $10.50 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, July 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $10.13.

AGNC Investment Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of AGNC opened at $10.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27. AGNC Investment has a 52 week low of $6.81 and a 52 week high of $10.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.22 and a beta of 1.48. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $10.03 and a 200-day moving average of $9.75.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.01). AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 26.21% and a net margin of 16.15%. The firm had revenue of $695.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $643.29 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 52.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment will post 2.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a aug 24 dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a yield of 14.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is currently 158.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.07, for a total value of $50,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 298,182 shares in the company, valued at $3,002,692.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AGNC. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 17.7% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 81,413 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $799,000 after acquiring an additional 12,228 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its position in AGNC Investment by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 605,392 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,939,000 after buying an additional 11,803 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 34,271 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $336,000 after buying an additional 2,090 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 397.8% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 816,904 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,015,000 after buying an additional 652,799 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Choreo LLC bought a new position in shares of AGNC Investment during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $327,000. Hedge funds and other 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).