Blue Trust Inc. Grows Stake in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) by 315.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 2,966 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in AGNC Investment were worth $37,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in AGNC Investment in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in AGNC Investment in the second quarter worth about $31,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 1,255 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in AGNC Investment in the first quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its stake in AGNC Investment by 75.6% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 5,285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 2,275 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on AGNC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $10.25 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Maxim Group downgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AGNC Investment presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.33.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AGNC opened at $9.31 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.47 and a beta of 1.47. AGNC Investment Corp. has a 52 week low of $7.85 and a 52 week high of $10.85. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $10.25 and a 200 day moving average of $9.93.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last issued 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). AGNC Investment had a return on equity of 24.40% and a net margin of 42.19%. The business had revenue of $756.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $219.50 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.65 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a oct 24 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be issued a $0.12 dividend. This represents a yield of 14%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AGNC Investment news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 5,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were 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 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

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).