Geode Capital Management LLC Reduces Stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Geode Capital Management LLC reduced its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 764,103 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 16,572 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $68,685,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Clearstead Advisors LLC increased its stake in Assured Guaranty by 104.2% in the 4th quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 1,258 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $113,000 after purchasing an additional 642 shares in the last quarter. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $306,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $261,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its stake in Assured Guaranty by 633.9% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Assured Guaranty by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 9,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $836,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other news, Director Francisco L. Borges sold 123,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.22, for a total transaction of $9,927,225.00. Following the sale, the director owned 176,952 shares in the company, valued at $14,195,089.44. This trade represents a 41.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total value of $77,813.04. Following the sale, the director owned 9,307 shares in the company, valued at $691,696.24. This trade represents a 10.11% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 224,797 shares of company stock valued at $17,999,537. 5.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $74.75 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $79.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.43. The company has a market capitalization of $3.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.58 and a beta of 0.76. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $72.76 and a fifty-two week high of $92.39.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $1.00. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 40.45%.The company had revenue of $261.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $208.63 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.18 earnings per share. Assured Guaranty’s revenue was down 24.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on AGO. Roth Mkm downgraded Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings downgraded Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, UBS Group raised Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.33.

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.