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

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock investors bought 68,625 put options on the company. This is an increase of 73% compared to the typical volume of 39,730 put options.

Insider Activity at AGNC Investment

In other AGNC Investment news, EVP Kenneth L. Pollack sold 17,500 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.03, for a total transaction of $158,025.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 447,841 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,044,004.23. The trade was a 3.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Peter J. Federico sold 48,333 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.88, for a total value of $429,197.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,643,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,590,621.44. This trade represents a 2.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 139,384 shares of company stock valued at $1,228,039 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of AGNC Investment in the first quarter worth $28,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 326.3% in the first quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 3,291 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 2,519 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 112.7% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 3,458 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,832 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC bought a new position in shares of AGNC Investment in the first quarter worth $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AGNC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $8.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Jones Trading cut their target price on AGNC Investment from $10.25 to $9.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $9.75.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

AGNC Investment stock opened at $9.12 on Friday. AGNC Investment has a 12 month low of $7.85 and a 12 month high of $10.85. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $8.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.48. The company has a market cap of $9.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.40 and a beta of 1.29.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.03. AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 21.92% and a net margin of 29.26%. The business had revenue of $846.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $436.71 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.58 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that AGNC Investment will post 1.61 EPS for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a may 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a dividend yield of 16.2%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is currently 360.00%.

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).