Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Director Sells $77,813.04 in Stock

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total value of $77,813.04. Following the sale, the director directly owned 9,307 shares in the company, valued at $691,696.24. This trade represents a 10.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Lorin Radtke also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, March 4th, Lorin Radtke sold 1,219 shares of Assured Guaranty stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.14, for a total value of $106,223.66.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of AGO opened at $73.20 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.40 and a beta of 0.76. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52-week low of $72.76 and a 52-week high of $92.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $79.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.70.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $1.00. The company had revenue of $261.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $208.63 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 40.45% and a return on equity of 6.98%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.18 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AGO. Roth Mkm cut Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings lowered Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. UBS Group upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.33.

Institutional Trading of Assured Guaranty

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. IMC Chicago LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,446,000. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 156.4% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 49,522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,743,000 after buying an additional 30,208 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 193,640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,392,000 after buying an additional 13,575 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Assured Guaranty by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,145,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $96,929,000 after buying an additional 92,148 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in 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 worth $112,840,000 after buying an additional 144,841 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.