Victory Capital Management Inc. Grows Stake in AGNC Investment Corp. $AGNC

Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) by 20.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 7,111,656 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,192,975 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in AGNC Investment were worth $69,623,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AGNC. Cozad Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 59.0% during the second quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 181,459 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,668,000 after purchasing an additional 67,355 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in AGNC Investment by 29.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,429,581 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $14,000,000 after buying an additional 325,104 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 39.4% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,311,549 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,840,000 after acquiring an additional 370,525 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment in the second quarter worth $325,000. Finally, Delphi Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of AGNC Investment during the second quarter valued at $574,000. 38.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Gary D. Kain sold 700,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.91, for a total value of $8,337,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,189,091 shares in the company, valued at $26,072,073.81. The trade was a 24.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Bernice Bell sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.14, for a total transaction of $303,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 491,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,969,577.92. The trade was a 4.84% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 775,000 shares of company stock valued at $9,246,000 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AGNC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $12.00 target price (up from $11.00) on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AGNC Investment currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.03.

AGNC Investment Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of AGNC stock opened at $10.90 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.79 and a beta of 1.37. AGNC Investment Corp. has a 12-month low of $7.85 and a 12-month high of $12.19. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $11.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.57.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $354.75 million. AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 18.32% and a net margin of 47.40%. Equities research analysts predict that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 27th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 13.2%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 102.86%.

AGNC Investment Profile

AGNC Investment Corp. is a self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT) that primarily acquires and manages a portfolio of residential mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by U.S. government-sponsored enterprises such as Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The company employs a leveraged total return strategy, borrowing against its securities to enhance income potential while using interest rate hedges to manage risk. AGNC’s investment objective is to generate attractive monthly dividends and long-term capital appreciation for its shareholders.

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, AGNC focuses exclusively on U.S.