Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC)

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 68,708 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 71% compared to the average daily volume of 40,254 call options.

AGNC Investment Stock Down 0.6%

AGNC stock traded down $0.05 on Friday, reaching $8.94. 34,924,557 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,947,221. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $8.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.50. The company has a market cap of $9.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.22 and a beta of 1.30. AGNC Investment has a one year low of $7.85 and a one year high of $10.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.23 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $846.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $436.71 million. AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 21.92% and a net margin of 29.26%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.58 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 payout ratio is 360.00%.

Insider Activity

In other AGNC Investment news, EVP Kenneth L. Pollack sold 17,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.03, for a total value of $158,025.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 447,841 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,044,004.23. This trade represents a 3.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Peter J. Federico sold 48,333 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.70, for a total transaction of $420,497.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,691,421 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,715,362.70. This trade represents a 2.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 139,384 shares of company stock valued at $1,228,039. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AGNC. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 71,330 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 8.6% during 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 buying an additional 581,352 shares during the last quarter. Farringdon Capital Ltd. bought a new stake in AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter worth about $639,000. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its position in AGNC Investment by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 33,854 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $312,000 after buying an additional 1,551 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in AGNC Investment by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 408,004 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $3,758,000 after acquiring an additional 37,150 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 38.28% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AGNC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $8.50 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Jones Trading reduced their target price on AGNC Investment from $10.25 to $9.50 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Argus reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of AGNC Investment from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $9.96.

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).