PL Capital Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

PL Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) by 821.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,464,956 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,871,584 shares during the quarter. AGNC Investment makes up approximately 0.6% of PL Capital Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. PL Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in AGNC Investment were worth $50,332,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 2.5% in the third 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 buying an additional 162,152 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its stake in AGNC Investment by 200.5% during the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 9,639,675 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 4.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,552,969 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $16,242,000 after purchasing an additional 71,330 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 242,640 shares during the period. Finally, Howard Financial Services LTD. increased its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 195.2% in the fourth quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 53,834 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $496,000 after purchasing an additional 35,598 shares in the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total value of $130,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 372,226 shares in the company, valued at $3,737,149.04. This trade represents a 3.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.10, for a total transaction of $50,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 75,919 shares in the company, valued at $766,781.90. This trade represents a 6.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.43% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AGNC Investment Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of AGNC opened at $10.53 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.23 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.85 and a beta of 1.48. AGNC Investment Corp. has a 1 year low of $8.92 and a 1 year high of $10.85. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.91.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.05). AGNC Investment had a net margin of 29.26% and a return on equity of 21.92%. As a group, equities analysts expect that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a feb 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a yield of 13.8%. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is currently 148.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AGNC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.50.

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).