Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO Shares Bought by Summit Global Investments

Summit Global Investments raised its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 417.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 11,010 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments’ holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $1,112,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AGO. 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 acquiring an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty during the third quarter worth $68,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Assured Guaranty by 99.5% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

NYSE AGO opened at $84.65 on Wednesday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $72.76 and a fifty-two week high of $92.39. The stock has a market cap of $3.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.72 and a beta of 0.75. The business has a fifty day moving average of $78.48 and a 200-day moving average of $82.30. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $1.00. The business had revenue of $261.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $208.63 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 40.45%.The business’s revenue was down 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.18 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is 17.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on AGO shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Assured Guaranty from $103.00 to $101.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Roth Capital downgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Assured Guaranty currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured acquired 242,718 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $24.72 per share, with a total value of $5,999,988.96. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 1,002,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,787,188.96. This represents a 31.94% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total transaction of $77,813.04. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 9,307 shares in the company, valued at $691,696.24. The trade was a 10.11% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 5.70% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.