AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the eleven ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $11.0313.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $12.00 target price (up from $11.00) on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 27th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $11.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on AGNC Investment from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Gary D. Kain sold 700,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.91, for a total value of $8,337,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,189,091 shares in the company, valued at $26,072,073.81. The trade was a 24.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Bernice Bell sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.14, for a total transaction of $303,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 491,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,969,577.92. The trade was a 4.84% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 775,000 shares of company stock valued at $9,246,000 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AGNC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in AGNC Investment during the 4th quarter valued at $141,830,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in AGNC Investment by 19,632.0% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,108,188 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $33,320,000 after acquiring an additional 3,092,436 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in AGNC Investment by 10.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,461,255 shares during the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp raised its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 27.0% in the second quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 9,390,450 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $86,298,000 after acquiring an additional 1,995,369 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 12.9% in the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AGNC opened at $11.38 on Friday. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $11.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.39. AGNC Investment has a fifty-two week low of $7.85 and a fifty-two week high of $12.19. The firm has a market cap of $12.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.13 and a beta of 1.37.

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 company had revenue of $995.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $354.75 million. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 47.40% and a return on equity of 19.13%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AGNC Investment will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 27th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 12.7%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 102.86%.

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.