AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Holdings Raised by Ethic Inc.

Ethic Inc. grew its position in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC - Free Report) by 238.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 71,753 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 50,550 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in AGNC Investment were worth $661,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AGNC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 83,316,872 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $767,348,000 after purchasing an additional 10,316,999 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter valued at about $87,269,000. PL Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 821.0% in the 4th quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,464,956 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $50,332,000 after purchasing an additional 4,871,584 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,840,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 18.8% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 2,311,105 shares in the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

AGNC traded up $0.10 during trading on Friday, reaching $9.18. 13,900,888 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,140,874. The stock has a market cap of $9.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.46 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $9.12 and a 200 day moving average of $9.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. AGNC Investment Corp. has a 52 week low of $7.85 and a 52 week high of $10.85.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $436.71 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.58 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Jones Trading dropped their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.25 to $9.50 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $9.96.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AGNC Investment news, CEO Peter J. Federico sold 48,333 shares of the business'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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,691,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,715,362.70. The trade was a 2.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Donna Blank sold 17,218 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.67, for a total value of $149,280.06. Following the transaction, the director now owns 90,345 shares of the company's stock, valued at $783,291.15. This trade represents a 16.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 139,384 shares of company stock worth $1,228,039. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About AGNC Investment

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).