Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO Shares Sold by Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lessened its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 69.7% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 13,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 31,698 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $1,122,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 61.6% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 59,010 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,198,000 after purchasing an additional 22,486 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 238,638 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,024,000 after buying an additional 16,235 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 3,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $322,000 after buying an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 99.5% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the second quarter worth about $553,000. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

NYSE AGO traded down $0.38 on Friday, hitting $82.12. The stock had a trading volume of 265,259 shares, compared to its average volume of 373,378. The company’s 50-day moving average is $77.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $82.69. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a one year low of $72.76 and a one year high of $92.39. The stock has a market cap of $3.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.43 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $1.00. The company had revenue of $261.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $208.63 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 40.45%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 24.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.18 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 17.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AGO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings cut Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Roth Capital 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Assured Guaranty currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.33.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured purchased 242,718 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $24.72 per share, with a total value of $5,999,988.96. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 1,002,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,787,188.96. This trade represents a 31.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total value of $77,813.04. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 9,307 shares in the company, valued at $691,696.24. This trade represents a 10.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 5.70% of the company’s stock.

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.