Bell Bank Raises Holdings in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Bell Bank grew its position in shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) by 20.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 586,240 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 100,456 shares during the quarter. Bell Bank owned about 0.07% of AGNC Investment worth $5,399,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AGNC. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in AGNC Investment by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 21,428 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $197,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075 shares in the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its stake in AGNC Investment by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 18,505 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $170,000 after buying an additional 1,150 shares during the period. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 10.0% in the third quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,947 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $135,000 after acquiring an additional 1,176 shares in the last quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management raised its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 222,450 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,327,000 after acquiring an additional 1,290 shares during the period. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 34,618 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $362,000 after acquiring an additional 1,391 shares in the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AGNC Investment news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total value of $130,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 372,226 shares in the company, valued at $3,737,149.04. The trade was a 3.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total transaction of $50,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 75,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $766,781.90. The trade was a 6.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

AGNC Investment Stock Up 0.1 %

AGNC Investment stock opened at $10.54 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $9.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.87 and a beta of 1.48. 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 Corp. has a 52 week low of $8.92 and a 52 week high of $10.85. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $9.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.91.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.05). AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 21.92% and a net margin of 29.26%. On average, analysts expect that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a feb 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a yield of 13.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is currently 148.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus upgraded shares of AGNC Investment to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 price objective on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AGNC Investment presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.50.

AGNC Investment 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).