Scientech Research LLC Acquires 27,464 Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Scientech Research LLC lifted its holdings in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) by 66.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 68,931 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,464 shares during the period. Scientech Research LLC’s holdings in AGNC Investment were worth $658,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,735,466 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $650,781,000 after purchasing an additional 2,368,658 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in AGNC Investment by 0.4% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp increased its holdings in AGNC Investment by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 7,124,392 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $67,967,000 after acquiring an additional 253,821 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in AGNC Investment by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,316,724 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $50,722,000 after acquiring an additional 54,153 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its holdings in AGNC Investment by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 4,807,050 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $45,860,000 after acquiring an additional 290,720 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on AGNC. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. StockNews.com raised shares of AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Maxim Group lowered shares of AGNC Investment from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, June 6th. They set a “buy” rating and a $10.50 price objective for the company. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AGNC Investment Stock Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ AGNC opened at $10.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27. The company has a market capitalization of $7.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.57 and a beta of 1.47. AGNC Investment Corp. has a one year low of $6.81 and a one year high of $10.85. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $10.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.85.

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

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 9th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.68%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is presently 158.24%.

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).