Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.78 EPS

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The financial services provider reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.78, FiscalAI reports. The business had revenue of $277.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $205.83 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 40.65% and a return on equity of 7.09%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 77.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.27 earnings per share.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

AGO stock traded down $0.80 on Friday, reaching $85.84. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 173,062 shares, compared to its average volume of 266,839. Assured Guaranty has a 52 week low of $74.09 and a 52 week high of $92.39. The company has a market capitalization of $3.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.65 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $87.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $85.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is a boost from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is presently 16.87%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 4,562 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.31, for a total transaction of $65,282.22. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,269,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,409,263.90. This trade represents a 0.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 10,701 shares of company stock valued at $154,990 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 194,128 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,446,000 after purchasing an additional 2,604 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 377.5% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 92,764 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,337,000 after purchasing an additional 73,339 shares during the last quarter. Summit Global Investments bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter worth approximately $237,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter worth approximately $198,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 577.1% in the fourth quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 35,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,170,000 after buying an additional 30,062 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.