AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Shares Bought by Equity Investment Corp

Equity Investment Corp boosted its stake in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC - Free Report) by 8.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,395,081 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 562,700 shares during the quarter. Equity Investment Corp owned 0.81% of AGNC Investment worth $70,845,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 83,316,872 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $767,348,000 after buying an additional 10,316,999 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of AGNC Investment during the 4th quarter worth $87,269,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AGNC Investment during the 4th quarter worth $39,840,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 18.0% during the 1st quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 16,996,741 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $162,828,000 after acquiring an additional 2,589,020 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,614,721 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $134,645,000 after acquiring an additional 2,311,105 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.28% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Bernice Bell sold 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.88, for a total transaction of $71,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 374,019 shares in the company, valued at $3,321,288.72. This represents a 2.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Donna Blank sold 17,218 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director owned 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. Insiders have sold 139,384 shares of company stock worth $1,228,039 over the last three months. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

Shares of AGNC stock traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $9.25. The stock had a trading volume of 6,144,757 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,164,322. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.43 billion, a PE ratio of 23.09 and a beta of 1.28. AGNC Investment Corp. has a twelve month low of $7.85 and a twelve month high of $10.85. The stock's 50 day moving average is $9.18 and its 200 day moving average is $9.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.28 and a quick ratio of 0.28.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 20.36% and a net margin of 14.91%. The business 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 company earned $0.58 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a jul 25 dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 15.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. AGNC Investment's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 360.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AGNC. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of AGNC Investment from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $8.50 to $9.50 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $9.79.

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).