Investors Buy Large Volume of Put Options on AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC)

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Traders bought 81,270 put options on the company. This is an increase of 197% compared to the average volume of 27,361 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AGNC shares. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com upgraded AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Compass Point started coverage on AGNC Investment in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $10.25 target price on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AGNC Investment has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $9.79.

AGNC Investment Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AGNC opened at $9.24 on Tuesday. AGNC Investment has a 1 year low of $6.81 and a 1 year high of $10.64. The company has a market capitalization of $6.42 billion, a PE ratio of 10.15 and a beta of 1.45. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $9.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.26 and a quick ratio of 0.26.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $642.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $568.38 million. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 32.12% and a return on equity of 27.92%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.70 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that AGNC Investment will post 2.1 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a apr 24 dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a yield of 15.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 158.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.35, for a total value of $46,750.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 75,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $706,345.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.43% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the 4th quarter valued at $38,593,000. Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 103.2% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 185,721 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,753,000 after buying an additional 94,332 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 4.7% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,752,044 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $16,539,000 after acquiring an additional 78,253 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in AGNC Investment by 48.0% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 451,460 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,262,000 after acquiring an additional 146,406 shares in the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in AGNC Investment during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,655,000. Institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

AGNC Investment Company Profile

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).