Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO Shares Acquired by Squarepoint Ops LLC

Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 856.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 75,842 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 67,913 shares during the quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $6,079,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AGO. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 61.6% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 59,010 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,198,000 after buying an additional 22,486 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings 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 valued at $21,024,000 after acquiring an additional 16,235 shares during the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 8.9% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 3,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $322,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 99.5% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the second quarter valued at about $553,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AGO shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 16th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured acquired 209,388 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 22nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $24.83 per share, with a total value of $5,199,104.04. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 1,212,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,096,591.98. The trade was a 20.88% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 5.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE:AGO opened at $72.98 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.73 and a beta of 0.73. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a one year low of $72.13 and a one year high of $92.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.64. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.02.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 37.34% and a return on equity of 7.11%. The business had revenue of $195.00 million during the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 20th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is 20.27%.

Assured Guaranty Profile

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) is a Bermuda-based financial services company that provides financial guarantees and related credit enhancement products. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company helps support the repayment of debt issued by public-sector entities, infrastructure projects and other borrowers.

The company’s principal business is financial guaranty insurance, which generally protects investors against scheduled principal and interest payment defaults on insured obligations.