Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) COO Sells $3,931,000.00 in Stock

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) COO Robert Bailenson sold 50,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.62, for a total value of $3,931,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 256,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,146,453.62. The trade was a 16.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

AGO stock traded down $1.91 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $77.01. The company had a trading volume of 783,338 shares, compared to its average volume of 332,235. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $82.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.60. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $74.18 and a fifty-two week high of $92.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.45 billion, a PE ratio of 8.84 and a beta of 0.81.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $1.00. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 40.45%.The company had revenue of $261.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $208.63 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.18 earnings per share. Assured Guaranty’s quarterly revenue was down 24.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is currently 17.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Roth Mkm cut Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.33.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGO. Norges Bank bought a new position in Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at $51,538,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 176.3% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 366,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,935,000 after purchasing an additional 233,966 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 261.9% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 142,761 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,830,000 after purchasing an additional 230,920 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 60.7% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 481,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,957,000 after purchasing an additional 182,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake 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 valued at $112,840,000 after purchasing an additional 144,841 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by 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.