Traders Purchase Large Volume of AGNC Investment Put Options (NASDAQ:AGNC)

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) was the target of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock traders purchased 106,802 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 219% compared to the typical daily volume of 33,448 put options.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

Shares of AGNC Investment stock opened at $9.66 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $10.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.95. The company has a market capitalization of $8.56 billion, a PE ratio of 6.71 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. AGNC Investment has a 52 week low of $8.22 and a 52 week high of $10.85.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $756.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $219.50 million. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 42.19% and a return on equity of 23.41%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.65 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that AGNC Investment will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a nov 24 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AGNC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,735,466 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $650,781,000 after purchasing an additional 2,368,658 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 200.5% during the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 9,639,675 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,237,964 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $86,169,000 after purchasing an additional 189,444 shares during the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 7,274,167 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $76,088,000 after purchasing an additional 149,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,316,724 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $50,722,000 after purchasing an additional 54,153 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on AGNC shares. StockNews.com downgraded AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 19th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Compass Point lifted their target price on AGNC Investment from $10.25 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded AGNC Investment from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $10.00 to $12.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AGNC Investment presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.33.

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).