Insider Selling: Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) CEO Sells 29,998 Shares of Stock

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) CEO Dominic Frederico sold 29,998 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total value of $2,442,137.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,264,295 shares in the company, valued at $102,926,255.95. This trade represents a 2.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Dominic Frederico also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, March 20th, Dominic Frederico sold 20,002 shares of Assured Guaranty stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.06, for a total value of $1,621,362.12.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AGO opened at $81.56 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.96 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 current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $85.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $85.75.

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

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th were issued a $0.38 dividend. This is an increase from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 6th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.84%.

Institutional Trading of Assured Guaranty

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AGO. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in Assured Guaranty by 218.1% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 162,615 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,765,000 after purchasing an additional 111,498 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 43.4% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 170,242 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,828,000 after purchasing an additional 51,519 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the second quarter worth $1,363,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,145,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $96,929,000 after buying an additional 92,148 shares during the period. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 204.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 34,135 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,820,000 after buying an additional 22,924 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on AGO. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.50.

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.