Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Director Sells $106,223.66 in Stock

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,219 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.14, for a total transaction of $106,223.66. Following the sale, the director directly owned 8,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $723,000.58. This trade represents a 12.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

AGO opened at $85.44 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.34 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $86.76 and a 200-day moving average of $85.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12-month low of $74.09 and a 12-month high of $92.39.

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

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is a boost from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.28%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. River Road Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 58.3% during the 2nd 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 buying an additional 660,009 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter worth approximately $51,538,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its holdings in 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 last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in Assured Guaranty by 261.9% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 142,761 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,830,000 after acquiring an additional 230,920 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 60.7% in the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 481,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,957,000 after acquiring an additional 182,004 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.