AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Downgraded to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded AGNC Investment from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $10.00 to $12.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Maxim Group lowered AGNC Investment from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AGNC Investment presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.33.

AGNC Investment Stock Down 3.6 %

Shares of AGNC opened at $10.01 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.00 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27. AGNC Investment has a one year low of $6.81 and a one year high of $10.85. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.93.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $756.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $219.50 million. AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 26.21% and a net margin of 16.15%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AGNC Investment will post 2.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a oct 24 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 158.24%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.07, for a total value of $50,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 298,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,002,692.74. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in AGNC Investment by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,735,466 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $650,781,000 after buying an additional 2,368,658 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,237,964 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $86,169,000 after purchasing an additional 189,444 shares during the period. Equity Investment Corp raised its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 7,124,392 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $67,967,000 after purchasing an additional 253,821 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,316,724 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $50,722,000 after purchasing an additional 54,153 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 4,807,050 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $45,860,000 after purchasing an additional 290,720 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

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).