Cetera Investment Advisers Purchases 167,101 Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Key Points

• Cetera Investment Advisers increased its ownership in AGNC Investment Corp. by 36% with the acquisition of 167,101 shares, bringing its total to 630,800 shares worth approximately $6 million.
• The real estate investment trust reported earnings of $0.38 per share, missing analysts' expectations of $0.42, while revenue significantly exceeded projections at $830 million versus the expected $447 million.
• AGNC Investment recently announced a dividend of $0.12 per share, representing a yield of 1,520%, with a payout ratio of 423.53%.

Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC - Free Report) by 36.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 630,800 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 167,101 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers owned about 0.07% of AGNC Investment worth $6,043,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 18.0% during 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 raised its stake 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 worth $134,645,000 after buying an additional 2,311,105 shares in the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp raised its stake in AGNC Investment by 8.2% in the first quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 7,395,081 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $70,845,000 after buying an additional 562,700 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in AGNC Investment by 24.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,378,470 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $58,746,000 after buying an additional 1,273,565 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in AGNC Investment in the fourth quarter worth about $39,840,000. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AGNC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Argus reissued a "hold" rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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 note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $8.50 to $9.50 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AGNC Investment has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $9.58.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Donna Blank sold 17,218 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.67, for a total transaction of $149,280.06. Following the sale, the director directly owned 90,345 shares in the company, valued at approximately $783,291.15. This represents a 16.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Paul E. Mullings sold 11,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.61, for a total transaction of $105,710.00. Following the sale, the director owned 128,511 shares in the company, valued at $1,234,990.71. This represents a 7.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 48,496 shares of company stock worth $450,673. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

Shares of AGNC Investment stock traded up $0.15 on Monday, hitting $9.63. 19,524,582 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,642,892. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.83 billion, a PE ratio of 28.32 and a beta of 1.28. AGNC Investment Corp. has a 1 year low of $7.85 and a 1 year high of $10.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a current ratio of 0.28.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $830.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $447.37 million. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 11.50% and a return on equity of 19.63%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.53 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 announced a jul 25 dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 1,520.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 31st. AGNC Investment's dividend payout ratio is currently 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).