AGNC Investment Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:AGNC)

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) saw some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Traders purchased 48,801 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 64% compared to the typical daily volume of 29,714 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on AGNC shares. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded AGNC Investment from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $10.00 to $12.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $10.25 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Compass Point raised their price target on AGNC Investment from $10.25 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AGNC Investment has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.33.

AGNC Investment Stock Down 0.7 %

AGNC Investment stock opened at $9.94 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.23 billion, a PE ratio of 10.92 and a beta of 1.47. AGNC Investment has a 12 month low of $6.81 and a 12 month high of $10.85. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $756.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $219.50 million. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 26.21%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.65 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment will post 2.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a oct 24 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 158.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AGNC Investment

In other AGNC Investment news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 5,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 298,182 shares in the company, valued at $3,002,692.74. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AGNC Investment

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norden Group LLC increased its position in AGNC Investment by 985.9% during the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 185,562 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,837,000 after buying an additional 168,473 shares during the period. Fermata Advisors LLC increased its stake in AGNC Investment by 53.0% in the first quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 23,213 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $230,000 after purchasing an additional 8,039 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in AGNC Investment by 2.4% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,237,964 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $86,169,000 after purchasing an additional 189,444 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in AGNC Investment by 3.7% during 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. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 3.5% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 674,005 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,673,000 after buying an additional 23,074 shares during the period. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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).