Brokerages Set AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Target Price at $11.03

Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $11.0313.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AGNC shares. JonesTrading lowered AGNC Investment from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $12.00 price target (up from $11.00) on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 29th.

AGNC Investment Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of NASDAQ AGNC opened at $9.84 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $11.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.21. AGNC Investment has a 52-week low of $7.85 and a 52-week high of $12.19. The company has a market capitalization of $11.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.03 and a beta of 1.37.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $354.75 million. AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 18.32% and a net margin of 47.40%. Equities analysts forecast that AGNC Investment will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 14.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is presently 102.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AGNC Investment news, EVP Bernice Bell sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.14, for a total value of $303,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 491,728 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,969,577.92. This represents a 4.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gary D. Kain sold 700,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.91, for a total value of $8,337,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,189,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,072,073.81. This trade represents a 24.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 775,000 shares of company stock valued at $9,246,000. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AGNC. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 97,745,127 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,047,828,000 after acquiring an additional 1,304,782 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in AGNC Investment by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 29,097,741 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $312,275,000 after purchasing an additional 1,596,244 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,245,939 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $197,774,000 after purchasing an additional 1,090,374 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of AGNC Investment in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $141,830,000. Finally, Equity Investment Corp boosted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 1.8% during the third quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 9,554,836 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $93,542,000 after buying an additional 164,386 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

AGNC Investment Company Profile

AGNC Investment Corp. is a self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT) that primarily acquires and manages a portfolio of residential mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by U.S. government-sponsored enterprises such as Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The company employs a leveraged total return strategy, borrowing against its securities to enhance income potential while using interest rate hedges to manage risk. AGNC’s investment objective is to generate attractive monthly dividends and long-term capital appreciation for its shareholders.

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, AGNC focuses exclusively on U.S.