Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Major Shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured Sells 3,782 Shares of Stock

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 3,782 shares of Assured Guaranty 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 5,276,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,668,195.84. The trade was a 0.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Large shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s shares are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

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

• On Wednesday, January 14th, Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 1,650 shares of Assured Guaranty stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.48, for a total value of $23,892.00.
• On Tuesday, January 13th, Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 165 shares of Assured Guaranty stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.50, for a total value of $2,392.50.
• On Monday, November 17th, Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 102 shares of Assured Guaranty stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.40, for a total value 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 value 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 transaction of $9,853.00.
• On Friday, October 24th, Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 1,882 shares of Assured Guaranty stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.64, for a total transaction of $31,316.48.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

NYSE:AGO opened at $85.42 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.60 and a beta of 0.91. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $74.09 and a twelve month high of $96.50. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $89.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $85.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

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

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Institutional Trading of Assured Guaranty

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