AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Trading Up 1.1% - Should You Buy?

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report)'s stock price shot up 1.1% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $9.04 and last traded at $8.95. 7,420,660 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 61% from the average session volume of 19,081,483 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.85.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on AGNC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $8.50 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $9.96.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $9.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.64. The company has a market capitalization of $8.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.10 and a beta of 1.32.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.03. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 29.26% and a return on equity of 21.92%. The business had revenue of $846.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $436.71 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.58 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a apr 25 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a yield of 17.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. AGNC Investment's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 360.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AGNC Investment news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total value of $50,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 75,919 shares of the company's stock, valued at $766,781.90. This trade represents a 6.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kenneth L. Pollack sold 17,500 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.03, for a total transaction of $158,025.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 447,841 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,044,004.23. The trade was a 3.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 132,166 shares of company stock valued at $1,188,739 in the last ninety days. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,552,969 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $16,242,000 after buying an additional 71,330 shares during the period. Howard Financial Services LTD. raised its position in AGNC Investment by 195.2% in the fourth quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 53,834 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $496,000 after purchasing an additional 35,598 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in AGNC Investment by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,349,657 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $67,690,000 after purchasing an additional 581,352 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in AGNC Investment by 35.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 584,370 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $6,060,000 after purchasing an additional 154,029 shares during the period. Finally, Farringdon Capital Ltd. purchased a new stake in AGNC Investment in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $639,000. Hedge funds and other 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).