Tudor Investment Corp ET AL Cuts Stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Tudor Investment Corp ET AL lowered its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 18.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 222,930 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 48,931 shares during the period. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $18,871,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MAI Capital Management boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 17.8% in the second quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,856 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $496,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 37.0% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Prelude Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 6.3% in the third quarter. Prelude Capital Management LLC now owns 3,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 12.9% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,764 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $154,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 1.5%

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $80.83 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.89 and a beta of 0.90. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $74.09 and a fifty-two week high of $92.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $85.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $85.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.78. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 45.31%.The business had revenue of $277.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $205.83 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.27 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 77.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th were paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 6th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. This is a boost from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other news, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.14, for a total value of $106,223.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 8,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $723,000.58. This represents a 12.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 4,562 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.31, for a total value of $65,282.22. Following the transaction, the insider owned 5,269,690 shares in the company, valued at $75,409,263.90. This trade represents a 0.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 11,920 shares of company stock valued at $261,214 over the last quarter. 5.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on AGO shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.50.

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.