AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Stock Rating Upgraded by Argus

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) was upgraded by Argus to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on AGNC. StockNews.com cut AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, October 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 price target on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

AGNC Investment stock opened at $10.11 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $9.55 and a 200-day moving average of $9.88. AGNC Investment has a 1 year low of $8.92 and a 1 year high of $10.85. The company has a market capitalization of $8.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.42 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.23 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last announced its 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, equities research analysts predict that AGNC Investment will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AGNC Investment

In other news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total transaction of $130,520.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 372,226 shares in the company, valued at $3,737,149.04. The trade was a 3.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

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 AGNC. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in AGNC Investment by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 39,968 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $390,000 after acquiring an additional 1,777 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in AGNC Investment in the 2nd quarter valued at about $163,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in AGNC Investment by 11.4% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 183,911 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,755,000 after acquiring an additional 18,864 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in 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 valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in AGNC Investment by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 330,181 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,150,000 after buying an additional 6,070 shares in the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by 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).