AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Short Interest Up 6.0% in March

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 51,650,000 shares, a growth of 6.0% from the March 15th total of 48,710,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 11,470,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.5 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. Jonestrading assumed coverage on AGNC Investment in a report on Friday, March 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $10.75 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Compass Point assumed coverage on AGNC Investment in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $10.25 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on AGNC Investment from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $9.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 10,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.85, for a total value of $98,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 287,282 shares in the company, valued at $2,829,727.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. bought a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in AGNC Investment in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in AGNC Investment in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Worth Asset Management LLC bought a new position in AGNC Investment in the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in AGNC Investment by 128.8% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,580 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 2,015 shares during the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

AGNC Investment stock traded down $0.18 on Tuesday, reaching $8.95. 3,664,643 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,648,103. The stock has a market cap of $6.22 billion, a PE ratio of 909.91 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. AGNC Investment has a twelve month low of $6.81 and a twelve month high of $10.64. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $9.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.26.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.11. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 28.02%. The firm had revenue of $640.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $570.42 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.74 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a apr 24 dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. This represents a dividend yield of 15.4%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14,414.41%.

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).