AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Stock Price Up 1% – Still a Buy?

Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) shot up 1% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $9.45 and last traded at $9.33. 4,772,248 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 17,236,002 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.24.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on AGNC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of AGNC Investment from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $10.00 to $12.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AGNC Investment currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.44.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $9.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.90. The stock has a market cap of $8.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.67 and a beta of 1.47.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.04). AGNC Investment had a net margin of 42.19% and a return on equity of 23.41%. The firm had revenue of $756.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $219.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a jan 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a yield of 15.5%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.00%.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Paragon Capital Management Ltd lifted its position in AGNC Investment by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Paragon Capital Management Ltd now owns 30,717 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $321,000 after acquiring an additional 1,071 shares during the period. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 18,505 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $170,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares during the last quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,947 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $135,000 after purchasing an additional 1,176 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 52.2% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,661 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 1,255 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hollencrest Capital Management increased its position in AGNC Investment by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 222,450 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,327,000 after buying an additional 1,290 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

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).