AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Announces Feb 25 Dividend of $0.12

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) declared a feb 25 dividend on Thursday, February 13th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of 0.12 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, March 11th.

AGNC Investment has increased its dividend by an average of 133.1% annually over the last three years. AGNC Investment has a payout ratio of 92.9% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings decline. Analysts expect AGNC Investment to earn $1.57 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 91.7%.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AGNC traded up $0.14 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $10.32. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 18,644,468 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,456,400. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.64 and a beta of 1.48. AGNC Investment has a 1-year low of $8.92 and a 1-year high of $10.85. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $9.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.23.

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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment will post 1.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AGNC. StockNews.com cut shares of AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 19th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $11.00 price objective on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.50.

Insider Activity at AGNC Investment

In other news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total value of $130,520.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 372,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,737,149.04. The trade was a 3.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total transaction of $50,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 75,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $766,781.90. This represents a 6.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AGNC Investment Company 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).