AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Stock Price Down 1.6% Following Weak Earnings

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) traded down 1.6% during trading on Tuesday after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings. The company traded as low as $10.19 and last traded at $10.21. 9,214,345 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 29% from the average session volume of 12,991,005 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.38.

The real estate investment trust reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $756.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $219.50 million. AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 26.21% and a net margin of 16.15%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.65 EPS.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Maxim Group downgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $10.25 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of AGNC Investment from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $10.00 to $12.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AGNC Investment news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.97, for a total transaction of $49,850.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 308,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,072,574.54. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AGNC Investment

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,366,808 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $621,628,000 after purchasing an additional 6,019,268 shares during the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the third quarter worth $17,463,000. Boston Partners grew its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 522.4% during the first 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 last quarter. Equity Investment Corp increased its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 16.2% in the 1st quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 6,870,571 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $68,019,000 after acquiring an additional 957,139 shares during the period. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in AGNC Investment in the 1st quarter worth $7,920,000. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AGNC Investment Trading Down 1.4 %

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market cap of $7.44 billion, a PE ratio of 11.22 and a beta of 1.47.

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).