AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Shares Down 0.4% After Analyst Downgrade

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) shares dropped 0.4% on Wednesday after Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on the stock from $10.00 to $9.50. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has an outperform rating on the stock. AGNC Investment traded as low as $9.23 and last traded at $9.33. Approximately 2,549,999 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 11,708,469 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.37.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Compass Point started coverage on AGNC Investment in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $10.25 price objective for the company. Finally, Jonestrading reduced their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $9.79.

Insider Transactions at AGNC Investment

In other news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.85, for a total transaction of $98,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 287,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,829,727.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.43% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AGNC. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. CENTRAL TRUST Co purchased a new position in shares of AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,000. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in AGNC Investment by 76.5% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,836 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 2,096 shares during the period. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $55,000. 38.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AGNC Investment Trading Down 0.3 %

The company has a market capitalization of $6.49 billion, a PE ratio of 10.25 and a beta of 1.45. The company’s fifty day moving average is $9.55 and its 200-day moving average is $9.26. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $642.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 last year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 2.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a apr 24 dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 9th. Investors 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 of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is 158.24%.

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).