AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Price Target Raised to $9.75

Key Points

• UBS Group has raised its price target for AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $9.75, maintaining a "neutral" rating, suggesting a potential downside of 0.76% from its last closing price.
• AGNC Investment reported $0.38 earnings per share for the last quarter, falling short of the expected $0.42, amid revenue of $830 million that exceeded analyst expectations.
• Insider trading activity included significant sales by directors, with John D. Fisk selling 20,278 shares and Paul E. Mullings selling 11,000 shares, reflecting declines in their respective ownership stakes.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) had its price objective lifted by equities research analysts at UBS Group from $9.50 to $9.75 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "neutral" rating on the real estate investment trust's stock. UBS Group's target price suggests a potential downside of 0.76% from the stock's previous close.

Several other research firms also recently commented on AGNC. Jones Trading reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $9.50 price target on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of AGNC Investment from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $9.63.

AGNC Investment Trading Up 0.7%

NASDAQ AGNC opened at $9.83 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. AGNC Investment has a 52 week low of $7.85 and a 52 week high of $10.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.23 billion, a PE ratio of 28.81 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $9.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.40.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.04). AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 19.32% and a net margin of 11.50%.The company had revenue of $830.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $447.37 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.53 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that AGNC Investment will post 1.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John D. Fisk sold 20,278 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.65, for a total transaction of $195,682.70. Following the sale, the director owned 112,685 shares in the company, valued at $1,087,410.25. This trade represents a 15.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Paul E. Mullings sold 11,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.61, for a total transaction of $105,710.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 128,511 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,234,990.71. The trade was a 7.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its position in AGNC Investment by 241,567.4% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 46,388,062 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $446,651,000 after acquiring an additional 46,368,867 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in AGNC Investment in the 2nd quarter worth about $109,814,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in AGNC Investment during the 1st quarter worth about $30,546,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 18.0% in the first quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 16,996,741 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $162,828,000 after buying an additional 2,589,020 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 3.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 85,779,209 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $821,765,000 after acquiring an additional 2,462,337 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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).

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