LPL Financial LLC Raises Position in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC - Free Report) by 12.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,392,082 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 153,187 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned approximately 0.15% of AGNC Investment worth $13,336,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farringdon Capital Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter valued at $639,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 96.4% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 110,113 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,014,000 after purchasing an additional 54,049 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 33,398 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $320,000 after purchasing an additional 3,081 shares during the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 14.1% in the 1st quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 19,991 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $192,000 after purchasing an additional 2,465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new position in shares of AGNC Investment in the 1st quarter valued at $1,240,000. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on AGNC. Argus reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $8.50 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $9.58.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AGNC traded up $0.04 during trading on Friday, reaching $9.45. The company had a trading volume of 10,825,059 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,970,722. AGNC Investment Corp. has a twelve month low of $7.85 and a twelve month high of $10.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.84 billion, a PE ratio of 27.79 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $9.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

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

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 15.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. AGNC Investment's payout ratio is 423.53%.

Insider Transactions at AGNC Investment

In other AGNC Investment news, Director John D. Fisk sold 20,278 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.65, for a total transaction of $195,682.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 112,685 shares in the company, valued at $1,087,410.25. This represents a 15.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paul E. Mullings sold 11,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, 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. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AGNC Investment 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).