Insider Selling: Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Major Shareholder Sells $23,892.00 in Stock

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 1,650 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.48, for a total value of $23,892.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 5,274,557 shares in the company, valued at $76,375,585.36. This represents a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Major shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Guaranty Ltd Assured also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, January 13th, Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 165 shares of Assured Guaranty stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.50, for a total value of $2,392.50.
• On Monday, January 12th, Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 3,782 shares of Assured Guaranty stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.72, for a total value of $55,671.04.
• On Monday, November 17th, Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 102 shares of Assured Guaranty stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.40, for a total transaction of $1,672.80.
• On Tuesday, October 28th, Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 266 shares of Assured Guaranty stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.69, for a total transaction of $4,439.54.
• On Monday, October 27th, Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 590 shares of Assured Guaranty stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.70, for a total transaction of $9,853.00.
• On Friday, October 24th, Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 1,882 shares of Assured Guaranty stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.64, for a total transaction of $31,316.48.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.7%

NYSE:AGO opened at $84.95 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.54 and a beta of 0.91. 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 Ltd. has a one year low of $74.09 and a one year high of $96.50. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $89.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.04.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $1.03. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 40.65% and a return on equity of 7.09%. The business had revenue of $207.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $196.76 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.42 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 23.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 19th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is presently 16.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on AGO. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $101.00.

Institutional Trading of Assured Guaranty

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. River Road Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 58.3% during the second quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 1,791,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $151,549,000 after purchasing an additional 660,009 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $45,606,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its stake in Assured Guaranty by 176.3% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 366,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,935,000 after buying an additional 233,966 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its stake in Assured Guaranty by 60.7% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 481,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,957,000 after buying an additional 182,004 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,333,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $112,840,000 after buying an additional 144,841 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% 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.