AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Trading 0.6% Higher – Time to Buy?

Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) rose 0.6% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $9.80 and last traded at $9.76. Approximately 2,304,807 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 14,023,498 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.70.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on AGNC shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded AGNC Investment from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $10.00 to $12.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, StockNews.com cut AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.33.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $10.03 and a 200 day moving average of $9.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm has a market cap of $8.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 1.47.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.43 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $219.50 million. AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 23.41% and a net margin of 42.19%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.65 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.94 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a dividend yield of 14.9%. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AGNC. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 200.5% in the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 14,446,725 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $151,113,000 after acquiring an additional 9,639,675 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in AGNC Investment by 279.0% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 239,493 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,505,000 after purchasing an additional 176,301 shares during the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp boosted its position in AGNC Investment by 2.1% in the third quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 7,274,167 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $76,088,000 after buying an additional 149,775 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 945.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,072,039 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $102,489,000 after buying an additional 969,475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 112.7% during the third quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 107,749 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,127,000 after buying an additional 57,089 shares in the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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).