Lorin Radtke Sells 1,219 Shares of Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Stock

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,219 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.14, for a total value of $106,223.66. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 8,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $723,000.58. The trade was a 12.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AGO traded down $0.76 during trading on Thursday, reaching $86.76. The stock had a trading volume of 237,238 shares, compared to its average volume of 284,438. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.79. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1-year low of $74.09 and a 1-year high of $92.39. The stock has a market cap of $3.90 billion, a PE ratio of 8.47 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $86.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $85.55.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.78. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 45.31%.The company had revenue of $277.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $205.83 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.27 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 77.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. This is a boost from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.28%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AGO. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its stake in Assured Guaranty by 3,391.7% during the third quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 633.9% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on AGO shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price 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 reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus 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.