Franklin Resources Inc. Increases Position in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) by 35.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 584,370 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 154,029 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of AGNC Investment worth $6,060,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of AGNC Investment in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in AGNC Investment during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 52.2% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,661 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 315.9% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 2,966 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised AGNC Investment from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $10.00 to $12.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com lowered AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 19th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.44.

AGNC Investment Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AGNC opened at $9.45 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $9.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.96. AGNC Investment Corp. has a 1 year low of $8.92 and a 1 year high of $10.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.56 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.23 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.04). AGNC Investment had a net margin of 42.19% and a return on equity of 23.41%. The company had revenue of $756.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $219.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.65 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a dec 24 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a yield of 15.1%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 100.00%.

AGNC Investment 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).