Arizona State Retirement System Buys 15,061 Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) by 7.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 226,968 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 15,061 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in AGNC Investment were worth $2,090,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Financial Life Planners bought a new stake in AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of AGNC Investment in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Spire Wealth Management grew its position in AGNC Investment by 94.5% during 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 increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 515,148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank raised its position in AGNC Investment by 105.7% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 6,705 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 3,445 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on AGNC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AGNC Investment presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total transaction of $130,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 372,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,737,149.04. This trade represents a 3.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 6.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

Shares of AGNC Investment stock opened at $10.23 on Tuesday. AGNC Investment Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $8.92 and a fifty-two week high of $10.85. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $9.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.55 and a beta of 1.50. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $9.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.93.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.05). AGNC Investment had a net margin of 29.26% and a return on equity of 21.92%. On average, equities analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a feb 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 13.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is currently 148.45%.

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).