AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Trading Up 2% Following Dividend Announcement

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)’s share price shot up 2% on Friday after the company announced a dividend. The company traded as high as $9.73 and last traded at $9.71. 6,502,083 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 54% from the average session volume of 13,986,491 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.52.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.12 dividend. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AGNC shares. Maxim Group cut shares of AGNC Investment from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $10.25 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com cut AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 19th. Compass Point boosted their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.25 to $11.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded AGNC Investment from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $10.00 to $12.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.33.

AGNC Investment Stock Up 1.9 %

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.94. The company has a market capitalization of $8.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.23.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $756.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $219.50 million. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 42.19% and a return on equity of 23.41%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.65 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in AGNC Investment by 5.4% during the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 19,712 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $188,000 after buying an additional 1,012 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 6.7% in the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 16,847 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $167,000 after purchasing an additional 1,059 shares in the last quarter. Paragon Capital Management Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 3.6% during the third quarter. Paragon Capital Management Ltd now owns 30,717 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $321,000 after purchasing an additional 1,071 shares during the period. Highlander Capital Management LLC grew its position in AGNC Investment by 8.1% during the first quarter. Highlander Capital Management LLC now owns 15,940 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $158,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC grew its position in AGNC Investment by 4.9% during the second quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 26,815 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 1,251 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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).