Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Put Options on AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC)

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders bought 81,270 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 197% compared to the typical volume of 27,361 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $706,345.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in AGNC Investment during the 4th quarter valued at about $69,215,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,366,808 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $621,628,000 after buying an additional 6,019,268 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new position in AGNC Investment in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,593,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in AGNC Investment by 85.6% in the third quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 7,301,298 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $68,924,000 after acquiring an additional 3,367,112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GRS Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in AGNC Investment during the 4th quarter worth $32,509,000. Institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on AGNC shares. Compass Point assumed coverage on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $10.25 price objective on the stock. Barclays lifted their target price on AGNC Investment from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced 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. StockNews.com raised AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AGNC Investment currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $9.79.

AGNC Investment Trading Up 1.1 %

AGNC opened at $9.25 on Thursday. AGNC Investment has a 1-year low of $6.81 and a 1-year high of $10.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.43 billion, a PE ratio of 10.16 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. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $9.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.27.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.02. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 32.12% and a return on equity of 27.92%. The business had revenue of $642.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $568.38 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment will post 2.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a apr 24 dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. This represents a dividend yield of 15.4%. 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).