AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Short Interest Update

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) saw a significant decline in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 46,570,000 shares, a decline of 22.1% from the February 28th total of 59,800,000 shares. Currently, 5.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 21,330,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on AGNC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Argus raised 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 price target on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.50.

Insider Activity at AGNC Investment

In other news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total value of $130,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 372,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,737,149.04. This represents a 3.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 sale, the director now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in AGNC Investment by 7.4% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 197,489 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,066,000 after acquiring an additional 13,578 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 103,556 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,083,000 after purchasing an additional 1,999 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in AGNC Investment by 383.7% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 949,369 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,930,000 after purchasing an additional 753,102 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new stake in AGNC Investment in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,242,000. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC bought a new stake in AGNC Investment in the third quarter worth about $193,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

AGNC Investment Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of AGNC opened at $9.52 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.72 billion, a PE ratio of 9.81 and a beta of 1.50. The company’s fifty day moving average is $10.14 and its 200 day moving average is $9.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.23. AGNC Investment has a fifty-two week low of $8.92 and a fifty-two week high of $10.85.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last posted 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 return on equity of 21.92% and a net margin of 29.26%. Sell-side analysts expect that AGNC Investment will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The business 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 is Monday, March 31st. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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).