Bernice Bell Sells 25,000 Shares of AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Stock

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) EVP Bernice Bell sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.14, for a total transaction of $303,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 491,728 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,969,577.92. The trade was a 4.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

AGNC Investment Trading Down 4.8%

AGNC stock traded down $0.57 on Friday, reaching $11.40. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 40,406,857 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,690,707. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.31. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.25. The firm has a market cap of $12.23 billion, a PE ratio of 8.14 and a beta of 1.36. AGNC Investment Corp. has a 12-month low of $7.85 and a 12-month high of $12.19.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $995.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $354.75 million. AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 19.13% and a net margin of 47.40%. As a group, research analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 EPS for the current year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 30th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.6%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is presently 102.86%.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in AGNC Investment by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 97,745,127 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,047,828,000 after acquiring an additional 1,304,782 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 10.9% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,995,789 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $229,990,000 after purchasing an additional 2,461,255 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 12.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,693,449 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $155,383,000 after acquiring an additional 1,906,785 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in AGNC Investment in the second quarter valued at $109,814,000. Finally, Equity Investment Corp raised its position in AGNC Investment by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 9,554,836 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $93,542,000 after purchasing an additional 164,386 shares in the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AGNC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $11.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Jones Trading downgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $11.03.

About AGNC Investment

AGNC Investment Corp. is a self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT) that primarily acquires and manages a portfolio of residential mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by U.S. government-sponsored enterprises such as Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The company employs a leveraged total return strategy, borrowing against its securities to enhance income potential while using interest rate hedges to manage risk. AGNC’s investment objective is to generate attractive monthly dividends and long-term capital appreciation for its shareholders.

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, AGNC focuses exclusively on U.S.