AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC – Get Rating) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 23,490,000 shares, a drop of 29.2% from the April 30th total of 33,190,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 12,090,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days. Approximately 4.5% of the company’s shares are short sold.

NASDAQ AGNC opened at $12.21 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.39 billion, a PE ratio of -6.53 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $12.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $13.85. AGNC Investment has a 12-month low of $10.86 and a 12-month high of $18.84.

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 2nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.08. AGNC Investment had a negative net margin of 72.72% and a positive return on equity of 18.40%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AGNC Investment will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

The firm also recently announced a may 22 dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 31st will be paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a yield of 11.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 27th. AGNC Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -77.01%.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of AGNC Investment from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $14.50 to $11.50 in a research report on Monday, April 25th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $15.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 27th. Credit Suisse Group dropped their target price on shares of AGNC Investment to $12.50 and set a “na” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 16th. Maxim Group dropped their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $17.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of AGNC Investment from $17.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Monday, May 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AGNC Investment has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.27.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in AGNC Investment by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 47,592,760 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $623,465,000 after acquiring an additional 176,213 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,023,373 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $242,823,000 after buying an additional 287,123 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,521,275 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $128,638,000 after buying an additional 92,077 shares during the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of AGNC Investment by 10.7% in the third quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 5,803,285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $91,517,000 after buying an additional 560,203 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of AGNC Investment in the fourth quarter worth $82,892,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.52% of the company’s stock.

About AGNC Investment (Get Rating)

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).

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