AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) Short Interest Up 22.9% in January

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) saw a significant growth in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 51,530,000 shares, a growth of 22.9% from the December 31st total of 41,930,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 18,600,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AGNC. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its position in AGNC Investment by 200.5% during the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 14,446,725 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $151,113,000 after purchasing an additional 9,639,675 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,303,616 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $128,730,000 after buying an additional 242,640 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,662,954 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $80,392,000 after buying an additional 424,990 shares during the period. Equity Investment Corp grew its stake in AGNC Investment by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 7,274,167 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $76,088,000 after buying an additional 149,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in AGNC Investment by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,768,305 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $70,796,000 after acquiring an additional 162,152 shares during the period. 38.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

NASDAQ AGNC opened at $10.08 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.93 billion, a PE ratio of 7.00 and a beta of 1.47. AGNC Investment has a 12-month low of $8.92 and a 12-month high of $10.85. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $9.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.90.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.05). AGNC Investment had a net margin of 42.19% and a return on equity of 23.41%. As a group, equities analysts predict that AGNC Investment will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a jan 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a dividend yield of 15.5%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 148.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AGNC. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 price target on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of AGNC Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.50.

AGNC Investment Company 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).