Short Interest in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Grows By 5.8%

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) was the target of a large increase in short interest in June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totalling 49,040,000 shares, an increase of 5.8% from the June 15th total of 46,340,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 11,360,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.3 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at AGNC Investment

In other AGNC Investment news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.32, for a total transaction of $32,620.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 309,973 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,888,948.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Paul E. Mullings sold 5,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.40, for a total transaction of $50,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 111,827 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,051,173.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Bernice Bell sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.32, for a total value of $32,620.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 309,973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,888,948.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 15,900 shares of company stock worth $149,030. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,735,466 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $650,781,000 after acquiring an additional 2,368,658 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in AGNC Investment by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,015,707 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $79,355,000 after buying an additional 332,709 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in AGNC Investment by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 7,380,614 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $72,404,000 after buying an additional 79,316 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter worth approximately $69,215,000. Finally, Equity Investment Corp lifted its position in AGNC Investment by 16.2% in the 1st quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 6,870,571 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $68,019,000 after buying an additional 957,139 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Jonestrading decreased 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, April 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, June 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $10.50 price objective for the company. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AGNC Investment currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $9.88.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

Shares of AGNC opened at $10.29 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.48 billion, a PE ratio of 11.31 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $9.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.65. AGNC Investment has a 12-month low of $6.81 and a 12-month high of $10.64.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $642.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $568.38 million. AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 27.14% and a net margin of 32.12%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.70 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AGNC Investment will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a jul 24 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a dividend yield of 13.8%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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).