AG Mortgage Investment Trust, Inc. (NYSE:MITT) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

AG Mortgage Investment Trust, Inc. (NYSE:MITT - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $8.55.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MITT. Wall Street Zen cut AG Mortgage Investment Trust from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on AG Mortgage Investment Trust from $8.25 to $8.50 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on AG Mortgage Investment Trust from $8.00 to $8.75 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Jones Trading restated a "buy" rating and issued a $8.00 target price on shares of AG Mortgage Investment Trust in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th.

AG Mortgage Investment Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MITT traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $7.60. 146,403 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 226,532. The firm has a market cap of $225.60 million, a PE ratio of 8.54 and a beta of 1.55. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $7.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $7.03. AG Mortgage Investment Trust has a 12 month low of $5.63 and a 12 month high of $7.95.

AG Mortgage Investment Trust (NYSE:MITT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.24 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $20.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.67 million. AG Mortgage Investment Trust had a net margin of 10.98% and a return on equity of 11.86%. On average, equities research analysts expect that AG Mortgage Investment Trust will post 0.78 EPS for the current year.

AG Mortgage Investment Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This is a positive change from AG Mortgage Investment Trust's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.05%. AG Mortgage Investment Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 94.38%.

Institutional Trading of AG Mortgage Investment Trust

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MITT. Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AG Mortgage Investment Trust in the first quarter valued at $927,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in AG Mortgage Investment Trust by 65.7% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 286,304 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,089,000 after purchasing an additional 113,564 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in AG Mortgage Investment Trust in the fourth quarter worth about $751,000. Prudential Financial Inc. increased its position in AG Mortgage Investment Trust by 509.1% in the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 91,047 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $605,000 after purchasing an additional 76,100 shares during the period. Finally, Bailard Inc. acquired a new stake in AG Mortgage Investment Trust in the first quarter worth about $553,000. 27.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About AG Mortgage Investment Trust

AG Mortgage Investment Trust, Inc operates as a residential mortgage real estate investment trust in the United States. Its investment portfolio includes residential investments, including non-agency loans, agency-eligible loans, re-and non-performing loans, and non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities, as well as commercial loans and commercial mortgage-backed securities.