Brokerages Set AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Target Price at $10.50

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $10.50.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Argus raised shares of AGNC Investment to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

Insider Transactions at AGNC Investment

In other news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of AGNC Investment 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 sale, the director now directly owns 75,919 shares in the company, valued at $766,781.90. The trade was a 6.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total value of $130,520.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 372,226 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,737,149.04. This represents a 3.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 2.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,768,305 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $70,796,000 after purchasing an additional 162,152 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,552,969 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $16,242,000 after buying an additional 71,330 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,303,616 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $128,730,000 after buying an additional 242,640 shares in the last quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. increased its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 195.2% in the fourth quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 53,834 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $496,000 after buying an additional 35,598 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Equity Investment Corp raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 149,775 shares in the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AGNC Investment Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AGNC opened at $10.13 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $10.12 and its 200 day moving average is $9.93. The stock has a market cap of $9.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.44 and a beta of 1.50. AGNC Investment has a 52-week low of $8.92 and a 52-week high of $10.85. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.05). AGNC Investment had a net margin of 29.26% and a return on equity of 21.92%. Sell-side analysts predict that AGNC Investment will post 1.61 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.12 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 14.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is 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).