Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Takes Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 4,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $382,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 13.5% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 90,627 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,894,000 after buying an additional 10,762 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 12.6% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,623 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $490,000 after acquiring an additional 628 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 5.3% during the second quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 22,435 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,954,000 after purchasing an additional 1,130 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,596,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 6,258 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.90, for a total value of $105,760.20. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,282,994 shares in the company, valued at $89,282,598.60. This trade represents a 0.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.83, for a total transaction of $2,095,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,287,803 shares in the company, valued at $107,956,525.49. This represents a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 81,827 shares of company stock valued at $5,645,401. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on AGO shares. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Assured Guaranty has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.50.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 6.5%

NYSE AGO opened at $86.83 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $82.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $83.95. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a one year low of $74.09 and a one year high of $96.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market cap of $4.13 billion, a PE ratio of 9.59 and a beta of 0.98.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $1.03. The business had revenue of $206.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $196.76 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 44.53% and a return on equity of 7.18%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 23.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.42 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th will be paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 19th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.87%.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

Assured Guaranty Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides credit protection products to public finance, infrastructure, and structured finance markets in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments: Insurance and Asset Management. The company offers financial guaranty insurance that protects holders of debt instruments and other monetary obligations from defaults in scheduled payments.