Simplify Asset Management Inc. Acquires 11,550 Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Simplify Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) by 8.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 143,550 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,550 shares during the quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in AGNC Investment were worth $1,322,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fox Run Management L.L.C. boosted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 102.2% during the 4th quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 32,143 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $296,000 after buying an additional 16,245 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,495,000. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 408,004 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,758,000 after acquiring an additional 37,150 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of AGNC Investment in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $898,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,781,000. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Argus raised shares of AGNC Investment to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

NASDAQ AGNC opened at $10.17 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.48 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. AGNC Investment Corp. has a 1 year low of $8.92 and a 1 year high of $10.85.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.05). AGNC Investment had a net margin of 29.26% and a return on equity of 21.92%. As a group, research analysts expect that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a mar 25 dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a yield of 14.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is 148.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AGNC Investment news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total transaction of $50,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 75,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $766,781.90. The trade was a 6.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total value of $130,520.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 372,226 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,737,149.04. This trade represents a 3.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

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).