Insider Selling: Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) CEO Sells $1,621,362.12 in Stock

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) CEO Dominic Frederico sold 20,002 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.06, for a total transaction of $1,621,362.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,294,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $104,915,390.58. This trade represents a 1.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Dominic Frederico also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, March 23rd, Dominic Frederico sold 29,998 shares of Assured Guaranty stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total value of $2,442,137.18.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.0%

NYSE AGO opened at $81.61 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.97 and a beta of 0.90. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $74.09 and a twelve month high of $92.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The business’s fifty day moving average is $85.15 and its 200 day moving average is $85.72.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $277.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $205.83 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.27 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 77.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th were paid a $0.38 dividend. This is an increase from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 6th. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is currently 14.84%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AGO. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 3,391.7% in the third quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in Assured Guaranty by 633.9% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position 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

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AGO shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Assured Guaranty has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.50.

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.