AGNC Investment Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Key Points

• AGNC Investment saw unusually heavy options activity, with traders buying 40,205 call options — about 13% above the average volume.
• Insiders have been selling shares recently, including CEO Peter J. Federico and Director Donna Blank; insiders sold 215,234 shares worth about $2.36 million over the past 90 days.
• The company recently posted quarterly EPS of $0.42, beating estimates, and it declared a monthly dividend of $0.12 per share, implying a 13.7% yield.

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 40,205 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 13% compared to the average volume of 35,622 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AGNC Investment news, CEO Peter J. Federico sold 64,412 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.08, for a total transaction of $713,684.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,927,083 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,352,079.64. This trade represents a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Donna Blank sold 22,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.78, for a total transaction of $237,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 96,471 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,039,957.38. This represents a 18.57% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 215,234 shares of company stock worth $2,364,022. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 97,745,127 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,047,828,000 after purchasing an additional 1,304,782 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 29,097,741 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $312,275,000 after purchasing an additional 1,596,244 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,245,939 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $197,774,000 after purchasing an additional 1,090,374 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter worth about $141,830,000. Finally, Equity Investment Corp increased its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 9,554,836 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $93,542,000 after purchasing an additional 164,386 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.28% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AGNC. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $12.00 target price on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Friday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $12.50 to $10.50 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $11.06.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

AGNC Investment stock traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $10.53. 7,653,129 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,485,881. AGNC Investment has a 1 year low of $8.80 and a 1 year high of $12.19. The firm has a market cap of $12.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.70 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $10.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.76.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 20th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.06. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 39.50% and a return on equity of 18.31%. The firm had revenue of ($114.00) million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $411.57 million. As a group, analysts predict that AGNC Investment will post 1.56 EPS for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 13.7%. AGNC Investment's payout ratio is 119.01%.

AGNC Investment Company Profile

AGNC Investment Corp. is a self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT) that primarily acquires and manages a portfolio of residential mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by U.S. government-sponsored enterprises such as Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The company employs a leveraged total return strategy, borrowing against its securities to enhance income potential while using interest rate hedges to manage risk. AGNC's investment objective is to generate attractive monthly dividends and long-term capital appreciation for its shareholders.

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, AGNC focuses exclusively on U.S.

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