Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 6,426 Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) by 10.9% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 52,314 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 6,426 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in AGNC Investment were worth $499,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 3.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,735,466 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $650,781,000 after acquiring an additional 2,368,658 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 0.4% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,048,520 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $76,783,000 after acquiring an additional 32,813 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 7,380,614 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $72,404,000 after acquiring an additional 79,316 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment in the fourth quarter worth $69,215,000. Finally, Equity Investment Corp grew its stake 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 worth $68,019,000 after acquiring an additional 957,139 shares during the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AGNC Investment Stock Up 1.2 %

AGNC stock opened at $10.35 on Friday. AGNC Investment Corp. has a twelve month low of $6.81 and a twelve month high of $10.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a market cap of $8.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.37 and a beta of 1.47. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $10.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.79.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.53 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $695.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $643.29 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.67 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 52.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 2.11 EPS for the current year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a aug 24 dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. This represents a dividend yield of 14.5%. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is currently 158.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.07, for a total value of $50,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 298,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,002,692.74. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AGNC shares. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. StockNews.com cut AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 8th. Finally, Compass Point increased their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.25 to $11.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.13.

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).