AGNC Investment Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Key Points

• AGNC Investment Corp. experienced a significant increase in options trading, with 56,420 call options acquired, reflecting a 71% rise compared to the average volume.
• Insider activity included the sale of 31,278 shares by directors Paul E. Mullings and John D. Fisk, resulting in a notable decrease in their respective positions in the company.
• Analysts have raised their target prices for AGNC Investment, with recommendations ranging from "buy" to "outperform," indicating a generally positive outlook for the company amidst recent challenges.

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock traders acquired 56,420 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 71% compared to the average volume of 33,063 call options.

Insider Activity at AGNC Investment

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AGNC Investment

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AGNC. St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AGNC Investment in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $109,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in AGNC Investment by 74.5% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,242 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 2,238 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in AGNC Investment by 47.0% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 961,656 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $8,839,000 after acquiring an additional 307,516 shares during the period. PVG Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 13.8% in the second quarter. PVG Asset Management Corp now owns 23,852 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $219,000 after purchasing an additional 2,885 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 141.2% in the second quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 74,055 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $681,000 after purchasing an additional 43,350 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 38.28% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on AGNC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Jones Trading restated a "buy" rating and set a $9.50 price objective on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $9.75 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Five equities 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 an average target price of $9.63.

AGNC Investment Stock Up 0.4%

AGNC Investment stock traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $10.06. The stock had a trading volume of 7,475,897 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,554,574. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.47 billion, a PE ratio of 29.57 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.33. AGNC Investment has a fifty-two week low of $7.85 and a fifty-two week high of $10.63. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $9.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.37.

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

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a sep 25 dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a $0.12 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 1,471.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. AGNC Investment's dividend payout ratio is presently 423.53%.

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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