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

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) shot up 1% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $9.71 and last traded at $9.71. 5,849,235 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 65% from the average session volume of 16,946,088 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.61.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AGNC. StockNews.com cut shares of AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.44.

AGNC Investment Stock Up 0.8 %

The company has a market capitalization of $8.58 billion, a PE ratio of 6.73 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.90.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). AGNC Investment had a net margin of 42.19% and a return on equity of 23.41%. The firm had revenue of $756.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $219.50 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AGNC. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 9,639,675 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 314.8% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 3,842,814 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $40,196,000 after purchasing an additional 2,916,345 shares during the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of AGNC Investment in the third quarter valued at approximately $17,463,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 115.0% in the third 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 valued at $20,007,000 after buying an additional 1,023,275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in AGNC Investment by 945.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,072,039 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $102,489,000 after acquiring an additional 969,475 shares during 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).