AGNC Investment's 15.93% Dividend Yield: A Powerful Income Play?

One of the most closely watched aspects of AGNC Investment Corp.’s AGNC financial profile is its dividend policy. This publicly traded mortgage real estate investment trust (mREIT) offers favorable long-term stockholder returns and a gigantic dividend yield that appeals to income-focused investors.

Income-seeking investors have a large appetite for REIT stocks, as U.S. law requires REITs to distribute 90% of their annual taxable income as dividends. AGNC has a record of paying monthly dividends, currently yielding a staggering 15.93%. This is impressive compared with the industry’s average of 12.92% and attracts investors as it represents a steady income stream. It currently sits at a payout ratio of 81%.

Dividend Yield

Dividends aside, AGNC has a share repurchase plan in place. In October 2024, the company’s board of directors terminated the existing stock repurchase plan and replaced it with a new plan authorizing it to repurchase up to $1 billion of common stock through Dec. 31, 2026. As of March 31, 2025, the full authorization was available for repurchase.

The company enjoys a decent financial position. As of March 31, 2025, AGNC Investment’s liquidity, including unencumbered cash and Agency MBS, was $6 billion. Given this, AGNC’s capital distribution seems sustainable.

How AGNC Competes With NLY & ABR in Terms of Dividends

Annaly Capital Management, Inc. NLY also has a record of paying monthly dividends, currently yielding a staggering 14.3%. It presently sits at a payout ratio of 101%. In March 2025, Annaly announced a cash dividend of 70 cents per share for the first quarter of 2025, marking a 7.7% hike from the prior payout. Till the end of the first quarter of 2025, the company had $7.5 billion of total assets available for financing, including cash and unencumbered Agency MBS of $4.7 billion, which can readily provide liquidity in times of adverse market conditions. This will support its capital distribution in the future.

Arbor Realty Trust ABR has a record of paying out quarterly dividends. Its current dividend yield is 12.66%, with a payout ratio of 115%. However, earlier this month, the company reduced its dividend 30.3% to 30 cents per share.
Arbor Realty’s weak liquidity position is concerning. As of March 31, 2025, ABR had cash and cash equivalents of $508 million, while it had a long-term debt of $4.8 billion. Hence, given a weak liquidity profile, Arbor Realty’s capital distribution seems unsustainable.

AGNC Investment’s Price Performance, Valuations & Estimates

AGNC shares have gained 4.5% year to date compared with the industry’s growth of 1.2%.

Price Performance

From a valuation standpoint, AGNC Investment trades at a forward price-to-tangible book (P/TB) ratio of 1.06X, above the industry’s average of 0.95X.

Price-to-Tangible Book TTM

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AGNC’s 2025 and 2026 earnings implies year-over-year declines of 11.2% and 3.9%, respectively. The estimates for 2025 and 2026 have been unchanged over the past 30 days.

Estimates Revision Trend

AGNC currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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