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

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) shares were down 0.4% during mid-day trading 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 mid-day 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 analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Jonestrading cut their target price on AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com upgraded AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Compass Point started coverage on AGNC Investment in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $10.25 target price for the company. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AGNC Investment presently 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 business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.85, for a total transaction of $98,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 287,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,829,727.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.43% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. CENTRAL TRUST Co bought a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 76.5% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter valued at about $55,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.26. The stock has a market cap of $6.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.25 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.02. AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 27.92% and a net margin of 32.12%. The firm had revenue of $642.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $568.38 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.70 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

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

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).