Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.31

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 2nd, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given a dividend of 0.31 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, May 29th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. This is a boost from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28.

Assured Guaranty has raised its dividend by an average of 11.9% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 6 years. Assured Guaranty has a dividend payout ratio of 18.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Assured Guaranty to earn $7.20 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.2%.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 0.6 %

AGO traded up $0.43 during trading on Friday, reaching $77.87. The stock had a trading volume of 498,032 shares, compared to its average volume of 385,555. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market capitalization of $4.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.28 and a beta of 1.14. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $85.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.05. Assured Guaranty has a one year low of $49.84 and a one year high of $96.60.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The financial services provider reported $5.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $4.57. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 53.82% and a return on equity of 11.82%. The company had revenue of $233.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $196.15 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.22 EPS. Assured Guaranty’s revenue was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Assured Guaranty will post 6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 55,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.43, for a total value of $5,083,650.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,450,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $134,099,662.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 5.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on AGO shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $64.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $92.00 price target (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Monday, April 1st.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

Assured Guaranty Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides credit protection products to public finance, infrastructure, and structured finance markets in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments: Insurance and Asset Management. The company offers financial guaranty insurance that protects holders of debt instruments and other monetary obligations from defaults in scheduled payments.