AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Trading Up 1% – Should You Buy?

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) shares were up 1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $9.45 and last traded at $9.33. Approximately 4,772,248 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 72% from the average daily volume of 17,236,002 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.24.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on AGNC shares. StockNews.com cut AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, October 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised AGNC Investment from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $10.00 to $12.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. One 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AGNC Investment presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.44.

AGNC Investment Stock Up 1.6 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $8.32 billion, a PE ratio of 6.52 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.23.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. 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 analysts’ expectations of $219.50 million. AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 23.41% and a net margin of 42.19%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.65 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a jan 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 15.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 100.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in AGNC Investment by 2.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,768,305 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $70,796,000 after buying an additional 162,152 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 200.5% in the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 14,446,725 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $151,113,000 after purchasing an additional 9,639,675 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,552,969 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $16,242,000 after purchasing an additional 71,330 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,303,616 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $128,730,000 after buying an additional 242,640 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 279.0% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 239,493 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,505,000 after buying an additional 176,301 shares in the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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).