AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Shares Down 0.3% – Time to Sell?

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)’s share price was down 0.3% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $9.40 and last traded at $9.48. Approximately 4,879,399 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 65% from the average daily volume of 14,040,090 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.51.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on AGNC shares. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of AGNC Investment from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $10.00 to $12.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. StockNews.com lowered AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $10.25 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Compass Point boosted their target price on AGNC Investment from $10.25 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.33.

AGNC Investment Trading Up 0.7 %

The firm has a market cap of $8.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.65 and a beta of 1.47. The business has a 50 day moving average of $10.09 and a 200 day moving average of $9.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $756.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $219.50 million. AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 23.41% and a net margin of 42.19%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.65 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a nov 24 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 14.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is presently 100.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AGNC. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in AGNC Investment by 5.4% during the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 19,712 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $188,000 after buying an additional 1,012 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 16,847 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $167,000 after acquiring an additional 1,059 shares during the period. Paragon Capital Management Ltd boosted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 3.6% in the third quarter. Paragon Capital Management Ltd now owns 30,717 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $321,000 after acquiring an additional 1,071 shares during the last quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its position in AGNC Investment by 10.0% during the third quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,947 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $135,000 after purchasing an additional 1,176 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Highlander Capital Management LLC raised its stake in AGNC Investment by 8.1% during the first quarter. Highlander Capital Management LLC now owns 15,940 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $158,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

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).