Royce & Associates LP Increases Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Royce & Associates LP lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,035,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 69,020 shares during the period. Assured Guaranty makes up approximately 0.9% of Royce & Associates LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $87,683,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AGO. River Road Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 58.3% in the second quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 1,791,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $151,549,000 after purchasing an additional 660,009 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the second quarter worth $45,606,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 176.3% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 366,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,935,000 after buying an additional 233,966 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 60.7% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 481,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,957,000 after buying an additional 182,004 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in Assured Guaranty by 218.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 162,615 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,765,000 after buying an additional 111,498 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 4,562 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.31, for a total transaction of $65,282.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 5,269,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,409,263.90. This trade represents a 0.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold 10,701 shares of company stock worth $154,990 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Assured Guaranty

Here are the key news stories impacting Assured Guaranty this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results materially beat consensus — non-GAAP EPS $2.32 vs. $1.54 expected and revenue $277M vs. $205.8M expected; revenue rose ~77.6% YoY, signaling strong top- and bottom-line momentum. Assured Guaranty (AGO) Q4 Earnings and Revenues Surpass Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Company press release/CEO commentary highlights record highs in key shareholder-value metrics for FY2025, reinforcing management’s message of improved capital returns and franchise performance. Assured Guaranty Ltd. Reports Results for Fourth Quarter 2025 and Full Year 2025
• Neutral Sentiment: The full earnings-call transcript and slide deck are available; investors should review management’s comments on reserve levels, capital allocation, and outlook for municipal and structured-credit exposures to judge sustainability of the beat. Assured Guaranty Ltd. (AGO) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentaries and earnings snapshots summarize the surprise beat and provide quick analyst takeaways; useful for short-term sentiment but contain limited new fundamental detail. Assured Guaranty: Q4 Earnings Snapshot
• Neutral Sentiment: A comparative piece contrasts AGO with larger insurers (e.g., MetLife), which may affect investor positioning and relative-valuation debates but doesn’t change AGO’s reported fundamentals. Contrasting Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) and MetLife (NYSE:MET)
• Negative Sentiment: Shares are trading lower on heavy volume despite the upside surprise — likely a mix of profit-taking, positioning after the strong print, and investors awaiting clarity from management on sustainability/growth and capital deployment. Short-term technical pressure may outweigh the earnings beat for now. Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) surprises with strong Q4 CY2025

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AGO. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Assured Guaranty from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Wall Street Zen raised Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Assured Guaranty has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $101.00.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AGO opened at $86.19 on Friday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $74.09 and a 1 year high of $92.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.42 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50-day moving average is $87.16 and its 200 day moving average is $85.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.78. The business had revenue of $277.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $205.83 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 45.31% and a return on equity of 7.80%. Assured Guaranty’s quarterly revenue was up 77.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.27 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. This is a boost from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.87%.

Assured Guaranty 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.