Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Increases Stock Position in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) by 27.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 73,898 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,850 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in AGNC Investment were worth $681,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGNC. Financial Life Planners purchased a new position in AGNC Investment in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in AGNC Investment in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Spire Wealth Management raised its holdings in AGNC Investment by 94.5% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 4,059 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 1,972 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its stake in AGNC Investment by 775.6% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 581,569 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 515,148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in AGNC Investment by 413.8% during the 4th quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,853 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 7,130 shares during the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AGNC Investment news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total transaction of $50,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 75,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $766,781.90. This represents a 6.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total transaction of $130,520.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 372,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,737,149.04. This trade represents a 3.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AGNC shares. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 target price on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of AGNC Investment to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of AGNC stock opened at $10.17 on Friday. AGNC Investment Corp. has a 1 year low of $8.92 and a 1 year high of $10.85. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $10.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.23 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The company has a market cap of $9.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.48 and a beta of 1.50.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.05). AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 21.92% and a net margin of 29.26%. As a group, equities analysts predict that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a mar 25 dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.12 dividend. This represents a yield of 14.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is currently 148.45%.

AGNC Investment Profile

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).