Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO Shares Sold by Kahn Brothers Group Inc.

Kahn Brothers Group Inc. trimmed its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 94.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 41,396 shares during the quarter. Kahn Brothers Group Inc.’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $219,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 7,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $629,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. MAI Capital Management grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 17.8% in the 2nd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.6% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,856 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $496,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 37.0% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised 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. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Assured Guaranty has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $101.00.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NYSE:AGO opened at $87.45 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.54 and a beta of 0.90. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1-year low of $74.09 and a 1-year high of $92.39. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $87.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.48.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.78. The company had revenue of $277.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $205.83 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 45.31%.The firm’s revenue was up 77.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.27 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is a positive change from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In related news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 4,562 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,409,263.90. This trade represents a 0.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders sold 10,701 shares of company stock valued at $154,990. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

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.