Quantbot Technologies LP Invests $593,000 in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 7,402 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $593,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Evolve Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Assured Guaranty during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $512,000. Chou Associates Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,362,000. De Lisle Partners LLP bought a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 2nd quarter worth $3,186,000. Callan Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 2nd quarter worth about $201,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the second quarter worth about $76,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured purchased 209,388 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $24.83 per share, for a total transaction of $5,199,104.04. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 1,212,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,096,591.98. This trade represents a 20.88% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 5.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on AGO shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 16th. UBS Group raised Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Roth Capital lowered Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, May 8th. 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, Assured Guaranty has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.33.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE AGO opened at $75.94 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $80.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $80.94. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52-week low of $72.76 and a 52-week high of $92.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.64. The company has a market cap of $3.34 billion, a PE ratio of 10.13 and a beta of 0.75.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 37.34% and a return on equity of 7.11%. The company had revenue of $195.00 million during the quarter. On average, equities research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.27%.

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.