AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Short Interest Up 12.1% in November

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 47,380,000 shares, an increase of 12.1% from the November 15th total of 42,250,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 18,280,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.6 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AGNC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of AGNC Investment from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $10.00 to $12.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.44.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AGNC Investment

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AGNC. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 2.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,768,305 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $70,796,000 after acquiring an additional 162,152 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 200.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 14,446,725 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $151,113,000 after purchasing an additional 9,639,675 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 279.0% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 239,493 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,505,000 after purchasing an additional 176,301 shares during the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp grew its position 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 buying an additional 149,775 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 945.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,072,039 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $102,489,000 after buying an additional 969,475 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

AGNC Investment stock opened at $9.58 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.65 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. AGNC Investment has a 12-month low of $8.92 and a 12-month high of $10.85.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.04). AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 23.41% and a net margin of 42.19%. The company had revenue of $756.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $219.50 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a dec 24 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a yield of 15.1%. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

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).