Entropy Technologies LP Acquires 6,771 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Entropy Technologies LP lifted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 170.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,771 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $876,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AGO. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in Assured Guaranty by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $252,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $309,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 5,111 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $459,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 6,030 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $542,000 after buying an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prelude Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Prelude Capital Management LLC now owns 3,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $284,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AGO. Weiss Ratings upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $103.00 to $101.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 17th. Roth Capital cut shares of 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. UBS Group upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.67.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 0.0%

AGO stock opened at $85.31 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.77 billion, a PE ratio of 9.79 and a beta of 0.75. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $82.14. 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.

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

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.45%.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.62, for a total transaction of $3,931,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 256,251 shares in the company, valued at $20,146,453.62. This represents a 16.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total value of $77,813.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 9,307 shares in the company, valued at approximately $691,696.24. This represents a 10.11% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 5.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.