Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC)

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Friday. Investors acquired 32,382 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 16% compared to the average daily volume of 27,856 put options.

Insider Activity at AGNC Investment

In related news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of AGNC Investment stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.35, for a total value of $46,750.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 75,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $706,345.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other AGNC Investment news, CFO Bernice Bell sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.32, for a total value of $32,620.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 309,973 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,888,948.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.35, for a total transaction of $46,750.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 75,545 shares in the company, valued at $706,345.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,900 shares of company stock worth $149,030 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AGNC Investment

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGNC. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 1,401.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,112,977 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,507,000 after purchasing an additional 1,038,856 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP purchased a new position in AGNC Investment in the 3rd quarter valued at about $708,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in AGNC Investment by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 87,976 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $830,000 after purchasing an additional 10,767 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,347,540 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $541,361,000 after acquiring an additional 242,548 shares during the period. Finally, Central Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new position in shares of AGNC Investment during the 4th quarter worth about $80,000. 38.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. They set a “buy” rating and a $10.50 price target on the stock. Jonestrading dropped their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AGNC Investment has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $9.94.

AGNC Investment Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AGNC traded up $0.24 during trading on Friday, hitting $10.39. 7,298,495 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,567,503. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.28 and a quick ratio of 0.28. AGNC Investment has a 1 year low of $6.81 and a 1 year high of $10.64. The company has a market cap of $7.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.15 and a beta of 1.48. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $9.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.64.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.02. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 32.12% and a return on equity of 27.14%. The business had revenue of $642.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $568.38 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.70 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AGNC Investment will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a jul 24 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be paid a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 31st. AGNC Investment’s payout ratio is 158.24%.

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).