PL Capital Advisors LLC Grows Stake in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

PL Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) by 821.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,464,956 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 4,871,584 shares during the period. AGNC Investment accounts for 0.6% of PL Capital Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. PL Capital Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.62% of AGNC Investment worth $50,332,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AGNC. Creative Planning raised its holdings in AGNC Investment by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 189,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,984,000 after purchasing an additional 19,965 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 315.9% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 2,966 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 38.4% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 11,562 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $121,000 after acquiring an additional 3,207 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 183,835 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,923,000 after acquiring an additional 22,591 shares during the period. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 57.8% in the 3rd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 44,839 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $469,000 after acquiring an additional 16,426 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total transaction of $50,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 75,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $766,781.90. This represents a 6.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total value of $130,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 372,226 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,737,149.04. This represents a 3.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AGNC shares. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 target price on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

Shares of AGNC opened at $10.53 on Wednesday. AGNC Investment Corp. has a twelve month low of $8.92 and a twelve month high of $10.85. The company has a market capitalization of $9.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.85 and a beta of 1.48. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $9.76 and a 200 day moving average of $9.91. 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 (NASDAQ:AGNC) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.05). AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 21.92% and a net margin of 29.26%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a feb 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a yield of 13.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is currently 148.45%.

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).