AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Shares Down 0.4% Following Analyst Downgrade

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) dropped 0.4% during trading on Wednesday after Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on the stock from $10.00 to $9.50. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has an outperform rating on the stock. AGNC Investment traded as low as $9.23 and last traded at $9.33. Approximately 2,549,999 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 11,708,469 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.37.

AGNC has been the topic of a number of other reports. Jonestrading dropped their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. 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 research note on Monday, January 22nd. Compass Point assumed coverage on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $10.25 price target on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped 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 Thursday, January 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AGNC Investment currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $9.79.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.35, for a total value of $46,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 75,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $706,345.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,366,808 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $621,628,000 after acquiring an additional 6,019,268 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,015,707 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $79,355,000 after buying an additional 332,709 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 7,380,614 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $72,404,000 after acquiring an additional 79,316 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter worth about $69,215,000. Finally, Equity Investment Corp increased its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 6,343,975 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $59,887,000 after acquiring an additional 230,265 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $6.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.13 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a current ratio of 0.26. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $9.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.26.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $642.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $568.38 million. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 32.12% and a return on equity of 27.92%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.70 EPS. On average, analysts expect that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 2.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

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 paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. This represents a yield of 15.4%. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is 158.24%.

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).