Van ECK Associates Corp Acquires 815,713 Shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC)

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) by 46.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,567,757 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 815,713 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned 0.38% of AGNC Investment worth $25,190,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in AGNC Investment in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. CENTRAL TRUST Co bought a new stake in AGNC Investment in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in AGNC Investment by 76.5% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,836 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096 shares in the last quarter. Carmichael Hill & Associates Inc. increased its stake in AGNC Investment by 66.8% in the third quarter. Carmichael Hill & Associates Inc. now owns 6,066 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 2,429 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA increased its stake in AGNC Investment by 110.8% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 6,377 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 3,352 shares in the last quarter. 38.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AGNC Investment Stock Down 1.0 %

AGNC Investment stock opened at $9.15 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $6.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.05 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.27. AGNC Investment Corp. has a 1-year low of $6.81 and a 1-year high of $10.64.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $642.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $568.38 million. AGNC Investment had a net margin of 32.12% and a return on equity of 27.92%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment Corp. will post 2.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGNC Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a apr 24 dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a yield of 15.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio is currently 158.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on AGNC. Barclays upped their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of AGNC Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Jonestrading lowered their price objective on shares of AGNC Investment from $10.75 to $10.25 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of AGNC Investment in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AGNC Investment currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $9.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at AGNC Investment

In other news, Director Frances Spark sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.35, for a total transaction of $46,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 75,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $706,345.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

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).