Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV Reduces Position in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lessened its stake in shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,725 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,131 shares during the quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV’s holdings in AGNC Investment were worth $163,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AGNC. PL Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 821.0% during the fourth quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,464,956 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $50,332,000 after purchasing an additional 4,871,584 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,840,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 115.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,912,694 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $20,007,000 after purchasing an additional 1,023,275 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in AGNC Investment by 383.7% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 949,369 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $9,930,000 after acquiring an additional 753,102 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in AGNC Investment by 3,409.3% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 696,095 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,281,000 after acquiring an additional 676,259 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total value of $50,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 75,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $766,781.90. This trade represents a 6.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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 owns 372,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,737,149.04. The trade was a 3.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on AGNC shares. StockNews.com raised AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $11.00 price target on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

AGNC opened at $10.36 on Thursday. AGNC Investment Corp. has a 12-month low of $8.92 and a 12-month high of $10.85. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.93. The company has a market cap of $9.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.68 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 net margin of 29.26% and a return on equity of 21.92%. Research analysts predict that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a mar 25 dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a dividend yield of 14.1%. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is presently 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).