AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Short Interest Up 11.4% in January

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 41,330,000 shares, an increase of 11.4% from the January 15th total of 37,100,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 14,020,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AGNC Investment news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 10,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.85, for a total transaction of $98,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 287,282 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,829,727.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 431,767 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $4,236,000 after buying an additional 1,897 shares during the period. Pathstone Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in AGNC Investment in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $503,000. Redwood Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $310,000. RMB Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 46.5% during the fourth quarter. RMB Capital Management LLC now owns 630,074 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $6,181,000 after purchasing an additional 200,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Putnam Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 418,363 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $4,104,000 after purchasing an additional 13,016 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.86% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $9.00 target price on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Wednesday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded AGNC Investment from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $8.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AGNC Investment presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $9.92.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

Shares of AGNC opened at $9.25 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.20 and a quick ratio of 0.20. AGNC Investment has a 1-year low of $6.81 and a 1-year high of $11.58. The stock has a market cap of $6.21 billion, a PE ratio of 925.00 and a beta of 1.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $9.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.32.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $640.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $570.42 million. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 28.65%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a feb 24 dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 15.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 28th. AGNC Investment's payout ratio is currently 14,400.00%.

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).

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