Reinhart Partners LLC. Has $95.69 Million Stock Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Reinhart Partners LLC. lessened its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,130,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,051 shares during the quarter. Assured Guaranty makes up approximately 3.1% of Reinhart Partners LLC.’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Reinhart Partners LLC. owned about 2.37% of Assured Guaranty worth $95,685,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AGO. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 3,391.7% in the 3rd quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 37.0% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In related news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 3,782 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.72, for a total value of $55,671.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,276,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,668,195.84. This trade represents a 0.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders sold 8,437 shares of company stock valued at $129,237. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AGO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Assured Guaranty from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $101.00.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.7%

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $84.95 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.54 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $89.23 and a 200-day moving average of $85.04. 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.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $1.03. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 40.65%.The business had revenue of $207.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $196.76 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.42 earnings per share. Assured Guaranty’s revenue was down 23.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.6%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.87%.

Assured Guaranty 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.