AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Shares Sold by AIA Group Ltd

AIA Group Ltd lowered its stake in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 134,913 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 6,641 shares during the quarter. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in AGNC Investment were worth $1,243,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 83,316,872 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $767,348,000 after purchasing an additional 10,316,999 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment in the fourth quarter worth approximately $87,269,000. PL Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 821.0% during the fourth quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,464,956 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $50,332,000 after purchasing an additional 4,871,584 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter valued at $39,840,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in AGNC Investment by 115.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,912,694 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $20,007,000 after purchasing an additional 1,023,275 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at AGNC Investment

In other AGNC Investment news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total value of $50,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 75,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $766,781.90. This trade represents a 6.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total value of $130,520.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 372,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,737,149.04. This represents a 3.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AGNC has been the topic of several research reports. Argus raised shares of AGNC Investment to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 price objective on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com raised AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AGNC Investment presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

Shares of AGNC Investment stock opened at $9.58 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.88 and a beta of 1.50. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.23 and a quick ratio of 0.23. AGNC Investment Corp. has a 12 month low of $8.92 and a 12 month high of $10.85.

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

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a mar 25 dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a yield of 14.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is 148.45%.

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).