AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Shares Up 0.9% Following Dividend Announcement

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)’s stock price shot up 0.9% during mid-day trading on Friday after the company announced a dividend. The stock traded as high as $10.45 and last traded at $10.42. 6,221,669 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 67% from the average session volume of 18,968,010 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.32.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 148.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AGNC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 19th. Argus raised shares of AGNC Investment to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

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 capitalization of $9.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 1.48. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.89.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 372,226 shares in the company, valued at $3,737,149.04. This trade represents a 3.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AGNC. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in AGNC Investment in the second quarter valued at approximately $163,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in AGNC Investment in the second quarter worth $365,000. CWM LLC raised its holdings in AGNC Investment by 20.3% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 103,459 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,082,000 after purchasing an additional 17,429 shares during the period. Creative Planning raised its holdings in AGNC Investment by 11.7% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 189,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,984,000 after purchasing an additional 19,965 shares during the period. Finally, SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in AGNC Investment by 49.6% in the third quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 66,228 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $693,000 after purchasing an additional 21,960 shares during the period. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).