Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) by 8.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 7,349,657 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 581,352 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.83% of AGNC Investment worth $67,690,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AGNC. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the third quarter valued at about $2,025,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 7.6% during the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 33,068 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $346,000 after buying an additional 2,332 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc lifted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 5.4% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 30,506 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $319,000 after buying an additional 1,564 shares during the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp lifted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 6.3% during the third quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 121,769 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,274,000 after buying an additional 7,222 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 4.2% during the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 34,618 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $362,000 after buying an additional 1,391 shares during the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at AGNC Investment

In other news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s 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 owns 75,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $766,781.90. This trade represents a 6.18 % decrease in their position. The sale 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 firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 372,226 shares in the company, valued at $3,737,149.04. The trade was a 3.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on AGNC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased 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. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Argus raised shares of AGNC Investment to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $11.00 price objective on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AGNC opened at $10.02 on Wednesday. AGNC Investment Corp. has a twelve month low of $8.92 and a twelve month high of $10.85. The company’s 50 day moving average is $9.94 and its 200 day moving average is $9.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a market cap of $9.17 billion, a PE ratio of 10.33 and a beta of 1.50.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 EPS for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a feb 25 dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a dividend yield of 13.8%. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is 148.45%.

AGNC Investment 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).