Short Interest in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Drops By 25.7%

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totaling 948,692 shares, a drop of 25.7% from the December 15th total of 1,277,061 shares. Approximately 2.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 412,203 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.3 days. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 412,203 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.3 days. Approximately 2.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.7%

AGO stock traded down $0.61 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $84.95. The company had a trading volume of 286,817 shares, compared to its average volume of 322,840. The stock has a market cap of $3.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.54 and a beta of 0.91. Assured Guaranty has a 52 week low of $74.09 and a 52 week high of $96.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $89.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $85.03.

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

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 19th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Assured Guaranty news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 3,782 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.72, for a total value of $55,671.04. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,276,372 shares in the company, valued at $77,668,195.84. This represents a 0.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 8,437 shares of company stock worth $129,237 in the last three months. 5.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AGO. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 61.6% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 59,010 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,198,000 after buying an additional 22,486 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 7.3% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 238,638 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,024,000 after acquiring an additional 16,235 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 2.1% in the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 7,717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $680,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC increased its position in Assured Guaranty by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 3,331 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $290,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in Assured Guaranty by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 34,619 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,015,000 after purchasing an additional 1,622 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

About Assured Guaranty

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.