Cozad Asset Management Inc. Cuts Stock Position in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Cozad Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) by 11.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 133,751 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 17,952 shares during the quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in AGNC Investment were worth $1,312,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AGNC. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in AGNC Investment by 136.4% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 27,950 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $264,000 after purchasing an additional 16,125 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. grew its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 71.9% during the third quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 34,191 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $323,000 after buying an additional 14,304 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 1.1% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,078,421 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,180,000 after buying an additional 11,459 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK grew its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 0.7% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 1,892,309 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $17,863,000 after buying an additional 14,053 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AGNC Investment during the third quarter worth about $104,000. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AGNC shares. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Compass Point started coverage on AGNC Investment in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $10.25 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AGNC Investment currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $9.79.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.35, for a total value of $46,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 75,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $706,345.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

Shares of AGNC opened at $9.15 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $9.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a market capitalization of $6.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.05 and a beta of 1.45. AGNC Investment Corp. has a 52-week low of $6.81 and a 52-week high of $10.64.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $642.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $568.38 million. AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 27.92% and a net margin of 32.12%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 2.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a apr 24 dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.12 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 15.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is currently 158.24%.

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).