AG Mortgage Investment Trust, Inc. (NYSE:MITT) Short Interest Update

AG Mortgage Investment Trust, Inc. (NYSE:MITT) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 453,200 shares, an increase of 41.4% from the January 31st total of 320,500 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 254,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days. Currently, 1.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $8.50 target price on shares of AG Mortgage Investment Trust in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $8.25.

Institutional Trading of AG Mortgage Investment Trust

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. PharVision Advisers LLC bought a new stake in AG Mortgage Investment Trust in the fourth quarter valued at $159,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new stake in AG Mortgage Investment Trust in the fourth quarter valued at $186,000. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in AG Mortgage Investment Trust in the fourth quarter valued at $70,000. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC bought a new stake in AG Mortgage Investment Trust in the fourth quarter valued at $83,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in AG Mortgage Investment Trust by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 37,206 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $247,000 after acquiring an additional 7,179 shares during the period. 27.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AG Mortgage Investment Trust Price Performance

MITT traded up $0.07 on Wednesday, hitting $7.57. The company had a trading volume of 75,600 shares, compared to its average volume of 222,982. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $6.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $7.09. AG Mortgage Investment Trust has a 1-year low of $5.44 and a 1-year high of $7.95. The stock has a market cap of $223.39 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 2.00.

AG Mortgage Investment Trust (NYSE:MITT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 3rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $22.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.44 million. AG Mortgage Investment Trust had a return on equity of 9.70% and a net margin of 20.19%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AG Mortgage Investment Trust will post 0.78 EPS for the current year.

AG Mortgage Investment Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.04%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. AG Mortgage Investment Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.33%.

About AG Mortgage Investment Trust

AG Mortgage Investment Trust, Inc operates as a residential mortgage real estate investment trust in the United States. Its investment portfolio includes residential investments, including non-agency loans, agency-eligible loans, re-and non-performing loans, and non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities, as well as commercial loans and commercial mortgage-backed securities.