AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $10.50 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Compass Point increased their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.25 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $10.25 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.13.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

NASDAQ AGNC opened at $10.56 on Wednesday. AGNC Investment has a 1 year low of $6.81 and a 1 year high of $10.85. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $10.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.81. The company has a market cap of $7.68 billion, a PE ratio of 11.60 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.01). AGNC Investment had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 26.21%. The firm had revenue of $695.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $643.29 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.67 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 52.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that AGNC Investment will post 2.11 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.07, for a total value of $50,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 298,182 shares in the company, valued at $3,002,692.74. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AGNC Investment

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGNC. Norges Bank acquired a new position in AGNC Investment during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $69,215,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in AGNC Investment by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,366,808 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $621,628,000 after acquiring an additional 6,019,268 shares during the period. GRS Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AGNC Investment during the 4th quarter worth $32,509,000. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 522.4% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,437,698 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $14,229,000 after acquiring an additional 1,206,714 shares during the period. Finally, Equity Investment Corp grew its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 16.2% in the first quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 6,870,571 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $68,019,000 after purchasing an additional 957,139 shares during the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).