AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $10.50.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on AGNC shares. Argus raised AGNC Investment to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $11.00 target price on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. 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 research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AGNC Investment news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 75,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $766,781.90. The trade was a 6.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total transaction of $130,520.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 372,226 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,737,149.04. The trade was a 3.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 83,316,872 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $767,348,000 after buying an additional 10,316,999 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,614,721 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $134,645,000 after purchasing an additional 2,311,105 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in AGNC Investment in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $87,269,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,662,954 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $80,392,000 after purchasing an additional 424,990 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,349,657 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $67,690,000 after acquiring an additional 581,352 shares during the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

AGNC stock opened at $8.35 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. AGNC Investment has a fifty-two week low of $7.85 and a fifty-two week high of $10.85. The stock has a market cap of $7.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.61 and a beta of 1.32. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $9.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.79.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.05). AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 21.92% and a net margin of 29.26%. Equities research analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a apr 25 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a dividend yield of 17.7%. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is 148.45%.

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).