Traders Buy High Volume of AGNC Investment Put Options (NASDAQ:AGNC)

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Investors bought 61,454 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 68% compared to the average daily volume of 36,588 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total transaction of $130,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the company’s 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 in the company, valued at $766,781.90. This trade 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.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in AGNC Investment by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 734,414 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,764,000 after acquiring an additional 37,683 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 96.4% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 110,113 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,014,000 after purchasing an additional 54,049 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 19.6% in the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 49,433 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $455,000 after purchasing an additional 8,103 shares during the last quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC increased its holdings in AGNC Investment by 176.2% in the fourth quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 69,946 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $653,000 after purchasing an additional 44,624 shares during the period. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new position in AGNC Investment during the 4th quarter worth $169,000. Institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Argus upgraded shares of AGNC Investment to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $11.00 target price on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AGNC Investment presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

AGNC stock opened at $10.39 on Wednesday. AGNC Investment has a 1 year low of $8.92 and a 1 year 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 stock has a market cap of $9.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.71 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.93.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 EPS 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%. Research analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment will post 1.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

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

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).