AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Trading 1.7% Higher - Time to Buy?

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) rose 1.7% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $9.16 and last traded at $9.14. Approximately 9,522,636 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 54% from the average daily volume of 20,688,092 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.98.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AGNC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $8.50 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Argus reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded AGNC Investment from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Jones Trading dropped their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.25 to $9.50 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AGNC Investment presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $9.96.

AGNC Investment Trading Down 1.9%

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $8.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.50. The stock has a market cap of $9.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.22 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.23.

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

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a may 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 16.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. AGNC Investment's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 360.00%.

Insider Transactions at AGNC Investment

In other news, CEO Peter J. Federico sold 48,333 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.70, for a total transaction of $420,497.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,691,421 shares in the company, valued at $14,715,362.70. This trade represents a 2.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Bernice Bell sold 8,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.88, for a total value of $71,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 374,019 shares in the company, valued at $3,321,288.72. The trade was a 2.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 139,384 shares of company stock worth $1,228,039 over the last quarter. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 3.0% in 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 last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $162,828,000 after acquiring an additional 2,589,020 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,614,721 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $134,645,000 after acquiring an additional 2,311,105 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in AGNC Investment in the fourth quarter valued at $87,269,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,662,954 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $80,392,000 after acquiring an additional 424,990 shares during the last quarter. 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).