AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Stock Price Up 0.6% – Should You Buy?

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) shares were up 0.6% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $10.44 and last traded at $10.43. Approximately 2,507,906 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 12,915,358 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.37.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AGNC. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. StockNews.com lowered AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $10.25 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Maxim Group cut AGNC Investment from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.33.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company’s 50-day moving average is $10.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.90. The firm has a market cap of $7.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.46 and a beta of 1.47.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company 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 company posted $0.67 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 52.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 2.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a oct 24 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be issued a $0.12 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 14%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is presently 158.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 5,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.07, for a total transaction of $50,350.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 298,182 shares in the company, valued at $3,002,692.74. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Creative Planning lifted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 189,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,984,000 after buying an additional 19,965 shares during the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in AGNC Investment during the third quarter worth about $17,463,000. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 150.0% in the third quarter. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC now owns 25,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $262,000 after purchasing an additional 15,000 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,695,000. Finally, Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in AGNC Investment in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $114,000. 38.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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).