AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Short Interest Up 6.0% in March

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 51,650,000 shares, a growth of 6.0% from the March 15th total of 48,710,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 11,470,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.5 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 stock was sold at an average price of $9.85, for a total transaction of $98,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 287,282 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,829,727.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.43% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AGNC Investment

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGNC. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. purchased a new position in shares of AGNC Investment during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of AGNC Investment during the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Worth Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AGNC Investment during the 1st quarter worth $35,000. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AGNC Investment during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 128.8% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,580 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 2,015 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 38.28% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AGNC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Compass Point initiated coverage on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $10.25 target price for the company. Jonestrading initiated coverage on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $10.75 target price for the company. Barclays raised their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of AGNC Investment from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $9.93.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AGNC traded down $0.17 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $8.96. The company had a trading volume of 13,905,372 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,796,017. The company has a current ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. AGNC Investment has a 52 week low of $6.81 and a 52 week high of $10.64. The firm has a market cap of $6.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 896.90 and a beta of 1.45. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $9.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.25.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.11. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 28.02%. The business had revenue of $640.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $570.42 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.74 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that AGNC Investment will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a apr 24 dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a yield of 15.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. AGNC Investment's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14,414.41%.

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).