Guaranty Ltd Assured Sells 1,650 Shares of Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Stock

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 1,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.48, for a total transaction of $23,892.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,274,557 shares in the company, valued at $76,375,585.36. This represents a 0.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Large shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s stock are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Guaranty Ltd Assured also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, January 13th, Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 165 shares of Assured Guaranty stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.50, for a total transaction of $2,392.50.
• On Monday, January 12th, Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 3,782 shares of Assured Guaranty stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.72, for a total transaction of $55,671.04.
• On Monday, November 17th, Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 102 shares of Assured Guaranty stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.40, for a total transaction of $1,672.80.
• On Tuesday, October 28th, Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 266 shares of Assured Guaranty stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.69, for a total transaction of $4,439.54.
• On Monday, October 27th, Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 590 shares of Assured Guaranty stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.70, for a total value of $9,853.00.
• On Friday, October 24th, Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 1,882 shares of Assured Guaranty stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.64, for a total value of $31,316.48.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 0.0%

NYSE AGO traded up $0.03 on Wednesday, reaching $85.42. 319,966 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 317,543. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12 month low of $74.09 and a 12 month high of $96.50. The company has a market cap of $3.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.60 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $89.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $85.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $1.03. The firm had revenue of $207.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $196.76 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 40.65%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 23.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.42 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th were given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 19th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on AGO. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Zacks Research raised Assured Guaranty from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Assured Guaranty has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $101.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AGO. River Road Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 58.3% in the 2nd quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 1,791,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $151,549,000 after purchasing an additional 660,009 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Assured Guaranty by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,333,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $112,840,000 after purchasing an additional 144,841 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 8.8% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,145,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,929,000 after buying an additional 92,148 shares during the last quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 0.3% during the second quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 1,138,398 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $99,156,000 after buying an additional 3,588 shares during the period. Finally, Royce & Associates LP grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 7.1% during the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,035,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $87,683,000 after buying an additional 69,020 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

Assured Guaranty Ltd is a Bermuda-domiciled provider of financial guaranty insurance and reinsurance products serving public finance, infrastructure and structured finance markets. The company’s primary business activity is credit enhancement, whereby it guarantees the timely payment of principal and interest on debt obligations issued by municipal and infrastructure entities. By combining rigorous risk assessment with active portfolio management, Assured Guaranty helps issuers access capital at more attractive rates while protecting investors against credit events.

In its public finance segment, the company underwrites municipal bond insurance for state and local governments, public-private partnerships and essential infrastructure projects.