AG Mortgage Investment Trust, Inc. (NYSE:MITT) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

AG Mortgage Investment Trust, Inc. (NYSE:MITT) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $9.1667.

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. JonesTrading raised their target price on AG Mortgage Investment Trust from $8.50 to $9.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Credit Suisse Group set a $9.25 target price on AG Mortgage Investment Trust in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of AG Mortgage Investment Trust in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AG Mortgage Investment Trust in a report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised their target price on AG Mortgage Investment Trust from $8.50 to $9.25 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd.

Institutional Trading of AG Mortgage Investment Trust

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of AG Mortgage Investment Trust by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 31,286 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $267,000 after acquiring an additional 1,732 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of AG Mortgage Investment Trust by 32.9% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 9,429 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 2,334 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in shares of AG Mortgage Investment Trust by 103.7% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 5,413 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 2,756 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of AG Mortgage Investment Trust by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 42,561 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $363,000 after acquiring an additional 3,068 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of AG Mortgage Investment Trust by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 84,524 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $720,000 after acquiring an additional 3,249 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.32% of the company’s stock.

AG Mortgage Investment Trust Stock Performance

MITT opened at $7.99 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $253.99 million, a P/E ratio of 19.97 and a beta of 1.66. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $7.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.11. The company has a quick ratio of 10.33, a current ratio of 10.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 23.76. AG Mortgage Investment Trust has a 12-month low of $6.77 and a 12-month high of $9.27.

AG Mortgage Investment Trust (NYSE:MITT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $6.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.97 million. AG Mortgage Investment Trust had a return on equity of 15.02% and a net margin of 6.71%. On average, equities analysts forecast that AG Mortgage Investment Trust will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current year.

AG Mortgage Investment Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.0%. This is an increase from AG Mortgage Investment Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. AG Mortgage Investment Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 240.00%.

About AG Mortgage Investment Trust

AG Mortgage Investment Trust, Inc is a publicly traded, closed-end management investment company that primarily focuses on investing in U.S. residential mortgage assets. The firm seeks to generate current income for its shareholders by acquiring a diversified portfolio of mortgage loans and mortgage-backed securities. As an externally managed mortgage real estate investment trust (REIT), AG Mortgage Investment Trust aims to deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns through active portfolio management and interest rate hedging strategies.

The company’s investment portfolio is concentrated in adjustable-rate residential mortgage loans, including so-called “jumbo” prime ARMs, as well as Agency and non-Agency residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS).