Hsbc Holdings PLC Purchases 37,946 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 74.4% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 88,939 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 37,946 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $7,267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $252,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $309,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 5,111 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $459,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 6,030 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $542,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prelude Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 6.3% during the 3rd 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. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group raised Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Assured Guaranty from $103.00 to $101.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Roth Capital downgraded Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.67.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In related news, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total transaction of $77,813.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 9,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $691,696.24. This trade represents a 10.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured bought 242,718 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $24.72 per share, with a total value of $5,999,988.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,002,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,787,188.96. This trade represents a 31.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Company insiders own 5.70% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.1%

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $84.41 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $78.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $82.24. The company has a market capitalization of $3.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.69 and a beta of 0.75. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52 week low of $72.76 and a 52 week high of $92.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $1.00. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 40.45% and a return on equity of 6.98%. The company had revenue of $261.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $208.63 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.18 EPS. Assured Guaranty’s quarterly revenue was down 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.08 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.45%.

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.