Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $500,000 Stake in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) by 8.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 47,788 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 4,526 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in AGNC Investment were worth $500,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the third quarter worth $25,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in AGNC Investment in the third quarter worth about $32,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in AGNC Investment during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in AGNC Investment by 52.2% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,661 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in AGNC Investment by 315.9% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 2,966 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded AGNC Investment from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $10.00 to $12.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.44.

AGNC Investment Stock Up 1.7 %

AGNC stock opened at $9.44 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.36 billion, a PE ratio of 6.56 and a beta of 1.47. AGNC Investment Corp. has a 1-year low of $8.92 and a 1-year high of $10.85.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.04). AGNC Investment had a net margin of 42.19% and a return on equity of 23.41%. The business had revenue of $756.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $219.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a dec 24 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.12 dividend. This represents a yield of 15.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

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).