Insider Selling: AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Director Sells 5,000 Shares of Stock

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total transaction of $50,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 75,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $766,781.90. This represents a 6.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AGNC traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $10.14. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 13,005,160 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,785,186. AGNC Investment Corp. has a 1-year low of $8.92 and a 1-year high of $10.85. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $9.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.23. The firm has a market cap of $8.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.45 and a beta of 1.48.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 EPS 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a jan 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a yield of 15.5%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is presently 148.46%.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Paragon Capital Management Ltd raised its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Paragon Capital Management Ltd now owns 30,717 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $321,000 after buying an additional 1,071 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,075 shares in the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 18,505 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $170,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,947 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $135,000 after purchasing an additional 1,176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 52.2% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,661 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,255 shares in the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AGNC. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.50.

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).