Short Interest in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Increases By 22.9%

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 51,530,000 shares, a growth of 22.9% from the December 15th total of 41,930,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 18,600,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on AGNC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, October 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of AGNC Investment from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $10.00 to $12.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.44.

AGNC Investment Trading Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ AGNC opened at $9.39 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.23. AGNC Investment has a one year low of $8.92 and a one year high of $10.85. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.32 billion, a PE ratio of 6.52 and a beta of 1.47.

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

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a jan 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a yield of 15.5%. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AGNC Investment

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGNC. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,768,305 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $70,796,000 after acquiring an additional 162,152 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 200.5% during the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 14,446,725 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $151,113,000 after buying an additional 9,639,675 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 4.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,552,969 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $16,242,000 after buying an additional 71,330 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,303,616 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $128,730,000 after buying an additional 242,640 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in AGNC Investment by 279.0% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 239,493 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,505,000 after buying an additional 176,301 shares in the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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).