13,645 Shares in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO Purchased by Summit Global Investments

Summit Global Investments bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 13,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,094,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 633.9% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the third quarter worth about $44,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 309.2% in the second quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the third quarter valued at approximately $68,000. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AGO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Wall Street Zen cut Assured Guaranty from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. UBS Group raised Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Roth Capital downgraded Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Assured Guaranty from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In related news, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total transaction of $77,813.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 9,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $691,696.24. This represents a 10.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured acquired 209,388 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 22nd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $24.83 per share, for a total transaction of $5,199,104.04. Following the purchase, the insider owned 1,212,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,096,591.98. This trade represents a 20.88% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 5.70% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE AGO opened at $76.68 on Friday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52 week low of $72.76 and a 52 week high of $92.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $3.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.22 and a beta of 0.75. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.61.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $195.00 million during the quarter. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.11% and a net margin of 37.34%. Equities research analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.27%.

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.