AGNC Investment Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:AGNC)

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 40,205 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 13% compared to the average daily volume of 35,622 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on AGNC. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.50 to $11.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $12.00 price target on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of AGNC Investment from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AGNC Investment presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.06.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Peter J. Federico sold 64,412 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.08, for a total value of $713,684.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,927,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,352,079.64. The trade was a 3.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Donna Blank sold 22,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.78, for a total transaction of $237,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 96,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,039,957.38. This trade represents a 18.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 215,234 shares of company stock valued at $2,364,022 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 58.3% in the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 392,817 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,940,000 after acquiring an additional 144,685 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 486,442 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,879,000 after acquiring an additional 21,800 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 194.9% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 197,626 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,982,000 after acquiring an additional 130,617 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 18.8% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,273 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $163,000 after acquiring an additional 2,576 shares during the period. Finally, Talon Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of AGNC Investment during the 1st quarter valued at $115,000. 38.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AGNC Investment Trading Up 0.9%

AGNC Investment stock traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $10.53. 7,653,129 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,485,881. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $10.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.76. The firm has a market cap of $12.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.70 and a beta of 1.35. AGNC Investment has a fifty-two week low of $8.80 and a fifty-two week high of $12.19.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 20th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of ($114.00) million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $411.57 million. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 39.50% and a return on equity of 18.31%. Analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment will post 1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is presently 119.01%.

AGNC Investment Company Profile

AGNC Investment Corp. is a self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT) that primarily acquires and manages a portfolio of residential mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by U.S. government-sponsored enterprises such as Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The company employs a leveraged total return strategy, borrowing against its securities to enhance income potential while using interest rate hedges to manage risk. AGNC’s investment objective is to generate attractive monthly dividends and long-term capital appreciation for its shareholders.

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, AGNC focuses exclusively on U.S.