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

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) saw some unusual options trading on Monday. Investors bought 61,454 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 68% compared to the typical volume of 36,588 put options.

Insider Activity

In other AGNC Investment news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 75,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $766,781.90. The trade was a 6.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bernice Bell sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were 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 owns 372,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,737,149.04. The trade was a 3.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AGNC Investment

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its position in AGNC Investment by 19.6% in the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 49,433 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $455,000 after acquiring an additional 8,103 shares during the period. AlphaCore Capital LLC increased its position in shares of AGNC Investment by 176.2% during the 4th quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 69,946 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $653,000 after purchasing an additional 44,624 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment during the 4th quarter worth about $169,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 286,609 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,640,000 after purchasing an additional 10,357 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alpine Global Management LLC acquired a new position in AGNC Investment in the fourth quarter valued at about $107,000. Institutional investors own 38.28% of the company’s stock.

AGNC Investment Stock Performance

NASDAQ AGNC traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $10.31. The company had a trading volume of 11,820,377 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,998,215. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.92. The stock has a market cap of $9.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.62 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. AGNC Investment has a fifty-two week low of $8.92 and a fifty-two week high of $10.85.

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

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a mar 25 dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 14.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is 148.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on AGNC shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced 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 note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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).