AGNC Investment Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:AGNC)

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors bought 60,258 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 44% compared to the average volume of 41,726 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling at AGNC Investment

In related news, EVP Bernice Bell sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.88, for a total transaction of $71,040.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 374,019 shares in the company, valued at $3,321,288.72. This trade represents a 2.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kenneth L. Pollack sold 17,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.03, for a total transaction of $158,025.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 447,841 shares in the company, valued at $4,044,004.23. This represents a 3.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 139,384 shares of company stock worth $1,228,039. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in AGNC Investment by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 18,259 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $168,000 after acquiring an additional 970 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in AGNC Investment by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 21,428 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $197,000 after buying an additional 1,075 shares in the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. boosted its position in AGNC Investment by 0.5% in the first quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 222,310 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,130,000 after buying an additional 1,186 shares in the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC boosted its position in AGNC Investment by 34.8% in the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 1,229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its position in AGNC Investment by 9.7% in the first quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 13,986 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $134,000 after buying an additional 1,237 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 38.28% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AGNC. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of AGNC Investment from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. 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. Jones Trading decreased their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.25 to $9.50 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $8.50 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AGNC Investment has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $9.96.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AGNC traded up $0.03 on Friday, hitting $8.84. 36,881,205 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,690,373. The company's 50 day moving average price is $9.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.52. AGNC Investment has a one year low of $7.85 and a one year high of $10.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.11 and a beta of 1.30.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $846.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $436.71 million. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 29.26% and a return on equity of 21.92%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.58 EPS. Research analysts expect that AGNC Investment will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a may 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a yield of 16.2%. AGNC Investment's payout ratio is currently 360.00%.

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).